The Empty Thrones
by DragonManMax
Summary: The Butterfly Effect. The concept that one minor difference could change the entire universe. My arrival seemed like a cosmic fluke. But even flukes have consequences. I don't think anybody could've anticipated what would happen. Nobody would've thought about The Empty Thrones. They would've never existed without me. But I'm not a hero, or a protagonist, that's Bell's job. I'm me.
1. Chapter 1

**~"I do not own DanMachi, nor do I plan to own DanMachi in the** _ **near**_ **future."~**

 **~Please note, that Bell and his friends will still be included in the story. They're still main characters.~**

 **Note:** I've had this in the bag for around a year now… Since then, it's always been in the back of my mind. However, it's only after I dedicated real brainpower to it, that I finally found a plot which would be awesome… Yet, this is still going to be the greatest challenge of my writing career.

But still, I look forward to the _grand_ adventure I have planned for all of you.

So, welcome readers, new and old, those only beginning with me now, and those who have been with me since the beginning… Welcome to an epic tale, taking place in a world far, far away…

* * *

 **The Empty Thrones**

 **Chapter 1**

* * *

"Next in line, I can help you over here!"

The teller called over the person in front of me, and they walked towards the counter, happy to _finally_ be getting some service. It made sense that they'd be happy. They had entered the line at the same time I had, and while I hadn't been keeping very good track of time, I would guess that we've been waiting for at least a half-hour.

Which if I may add, would bring my stay in Orario to about two hours long.

I'd arrived two hours ago, seemingly dropped here for no reason. This morning, I had just been _thrown_ in here, left to find my own way around. One moment asleep, curled up under my covers in the cold Canadian night, and the next moment I was here... Thankfully upon my arrival, I remembered that there was _a_ place I knew I could find with no _real_ difficulty.

The Adventurers Guild.

Known as the Pantheon, the outside of the building actually blended in with the surrounding neighbourhood well, and it was only due to the help of some strangers that I'd managed to find the place without getting lost. I could only imagine that getting lost in a foreign world from an anime wouldn't have been a very good experience.

But even with help, finding and walking to the place had taken me about an hour.

Upon entering the building, I briefly looked around. The dark floor tiles were perfectly polished, and the light wooden counter at the front seemed to be well made. It almost reminded me of a Tim Hortons, giving me a cozy feeling which came from the colours, lighting, and furniture. It overall gave a pleasant vibe which didn't make me feel _too_ bad.

Though even then, I wasn't comfortable in the slightest.

How could I be comfortable? I had just been dropped into an anime! An animated show from Japan back in my world _was_ a _real world_ which I was currently _inside of_ somehow! No… It wasn't natural, it didn't make sense, and I didn't feel comfortable in the environment. There was too much different... There was no way I could be fine now, or for the next little while...

But even if I _do_ become accustomed to this environment, it's not Earth. Not at all.

Meaning that there are no toilet seats, there's no two-ply toilet paper, no soap, or shampoo… I was missing my body pillow, my bamboo pillow, and my duvet… The cotton clothing I loved was gone, my shoes changed, the underwear lost. Countless other luxuries from back on Earth wouldn't get even be _imagined_ for a few hundred years! The internet, shoes, video games...

No… Orario was further back in time than my world, and I was without luxuries I used to consider basic.

Sighing, I pushed that thought from my mind as I went over everything once again.

Once I had arrived in the Pantheon, I realized that there were several things I'd need to be able to explain to the inhabitants here, if I was going to survive... One was a reason as to why I didn't _know_ things which _should_ be basic knowledge. Two was a reason as to why I didn't _have_ certain things. Three was a reason as to why I would know what's _coming up_... Or rather, what hasn't happened yet.

Thankfully, forward planning is one of my few specialties… It's likely that my preparation would pay off, but there was no saying as to how much. After all, with the butterfly effect, there's no possible way to tell just how much my existence altered the universe... But those thoughts were shaken out of my mind as the rather cute girl behind the counter waved me forward.

It was my turn.

"I can help you now sir!" The girl cheerfully called from the reception to the front left of the line, and I walked up to her, putting my hands on top of the counter. "How may the Adventurers Guild help you today?"

The anxiety I was having the entire time in line faded away, replaced with a new feeling. The same one which I felt every time I was talking with someone new… A bit of anxiety at meeting them came up, but for the most part, it was replaced with the desire to be cordial… The desire to get this over with.

"My name's Max, it's a pleasure to meet you… I would like to become officially registered as an Adventurer of Orario, and acquire a license allowing me to go adventuring in the Dungeon." I said plainly, enunciating my words clearly.

It was almost like I was ordering food at a restaurant. Polite, and straight to the point.

"Yes, sir!" The black-haired girl replied, her purple eyes fixing on my blue ones from across the counter. Her angled face, and pointy ears showed she was an elf, and quite a pretty one at that.

Being entirely honest, _everyone_ I've seen so far was good looking. Better looking than me at least.

"We currently have several advisers available… One of them will bring you the paperwork, and talk you through the signing up process, before becoming your full-time adviser from the Adventurers Guild." She said continuing, and I hummed a noise of understanding.

That made sense… It was also safe to assume every adviser had multiple adventurers assigned to them at one time. If that _hadn't_ been the case, then they would need far more staff who would just do nothing half the time, as their adventurers go out on expeditions.

"To your left, there is a conference room for conferring with your adviser. Please, take a seat in booth number six." The girl said nicely and I smiled. It wasn't usual for people to be quite so charming when dealing with you back on Earth.

"Thanks."

"Have a nice day sir."

Walking to the left of the counter, I briefly looked back at the line. It had thinned out considerably… I mentally noted that the time I had arrived was apparently rush hour, and everyone would be going to do their business with the guild at that time.

Looking at my feet as I walked, I noted how the leather shoes which were now my own creased with every step. Seemed like they were good quality boots… At least the universe had given me that much when dropping me here.

Other than giving me a pair of brown boots, the universe had swapped my normal all-black wardrobe of sweat pants and a t-shirt, for a long-sleeved white tunic and brown pants. It was annoying, being in a colour other than black, but it was better than being naked. Yes... Dropping into an anime world _naked_ would've been a _far_ more traumatizing experience.

I rolled up my sleeves as I walked, and my skin was exposed to the crystal powered lights above.

Looking upwards, I checked out the room. There were booths seats made out of green cloth spread about, with about two meters in between the back of one bench, and another. Plenty of space for talking, and enough that you could speak in privacy if you moved away from the other people in the massive space.

All these benches, which were soft and comfortable, and still the homeless slept on the street.

Spotting booth six, I sat down leaning back into the fabric glad to finally be getting a break.

I _have_ been moving around for the past few hours, in a place with no sidewalks, and cobblestone roads… They weren't _terrible_ , but for someone from the twenty-first century who was accustomed to asphalt roads and concrete sidewalks, it wore out your soles quickly. Or rather, stressing for your life while at the same time walking to find a guild for magic people tended to drain you...

My mind drifted a bit as I waited, and it eventually returned to that cute girl at the front desk.

Everyone I've seen so far, or at least every _adventurer_ seemed to be pretty… They had almost flawless skin, toned or muscular physiques, impressively sculpted figures, and colourful personalities. It was such a stark contrast to Earth, at first it had been unsettling. Now, it was actually nice, seeing beauty everywhere I looked.

But there was more to it than beauty, which made me gaze on in wonder.

The people here were connected to an _actual_ force of magic of some kind… No, I don't mean in the emo way of wearing makeup and being edgy as fuck. I mean in the sense that there were entire different races I've only read about in fantasy novels.

Elves, half-elves, humans, dwarves, cat people, prum, gnomes, and so much more.

All of them were somehow altered by the magic of the world and had been made enhanced. Let me tell you, I am a science man and I believe in evolution… But things like cat ears are too cute to be chosen by evolution, and so it _must_ have been magic which has changed the people.

But it seemed like they were probably changed for the better.

From their stocky frames, it was safe to assume dwarves were tougher and stronger than humans. Elves were graceful and quick, but probably fairly squishy in a combat sense. Half-elves were probably similar, but with a more balanced mix of durability and grace.

Cat people were adorable, and already I had to restrain myself from freaking out upon seeing one which looked just like Blake from the anime 'RWBY'. However, they were far from the only oddly charming race here. The gnomes were pleasant to talk to, and had pointy hats and impressively maintained white beards.

Everything here was filled with life, vibrant, and just so _different_.

What was most important though, is that, unlike when I watched the anime, these people seemed _alive_. They were all talking, and I was sure they had hopes and dreams, broken hearts and feelings. They were all people, the same as all the people back on Earth. This was a world, which was alive.

Here people weren't sucked into their Snapchat, screwing around on their Facebook, or 'tweeting' out random nonsense. Here, they interacted face to face, while leaving the mental games at the door. Anonymity couldn't save you. This world was one far better than the one I'd left behind, at least in a few ways.

Maybe I _would_ like it here.

 _'At least now I totally understand why Bell would like to pick up girls in the Dungeon...'_

The sound of footsteps against the wooden floor of the mostly empty room drew my gaze, and I had a brief moment to register who it was before frantically looking for a name. After a moment of searching, I had found it and began compiling all the data I could remember... It filtered in slowly but was all there by the time she arrived at the booth.

Eina.

I couldn't remember the last name, but I could say that I _knew_ the first name. She was an elf if I recalled correctly, and zeroing in on her long pointy ears, that seemed almost a certainty. Though, as my eyes continued scanning her face, I noticed a pair of glasses sitting high on her well-defined nose. Sitting on the bridge of her nose, the small pair of what _appeared_ to be corrective lenses were over a pair of bright green eyes, and that _nearly_ threw that theory out the window.

Would an elf need corrective lenses if they were born with greater vision than humans?

While my knowledge on elves wasn't extremely extensive, I was fairly sure they were born with enhanced grace, as well as other physical differences from humans… No, that woman with perfect cheekbones and a brown bob cut wasn't a _full_ elf. So that only left half-elf, or a race I haven't even heard of yet.

Watching as her nice, if partially obscured figure approached, I filed away what the uniform for an adviser looked like. The black vest and slacks were complemented with a white dress shirt, and the entire outfit seemed to fit her perfectly. Upon slightly closer inspection, I noticed just how well it sat on her frame. A well-made outfit.

"Sorry! I was finishing up with another adventurer." She said, arriving slightly out of breath before sliding into the seat across from me. The only thing between us was a small wooden table. "The life of an adviser isn't easy!"

"No problem, I was only waiting for a few minutes, and I'm not exactly in a rush," I said with a smile. There was just something about her personality which made me happy. "My name's Max. it's a pleasure to meet you…"

I left the end of the sentence hanging so she would give me her name, and then I would _officially_ know it, without seeming like a stalker.

"Eina Tulle, at your service." The half-elf said with a nod, before glancing me over. I noticed her eyes twinkle lightly before she continued talking. "You know, it's quite refreshing to have someone introduce themselves so cordially."

"I take it most adventurers aren't quite so polite?" I asked, smiling a bit as she blushed slightly and nodded. It was an adorable gesture, one that I hadn't seen much of on Earth. Not because people on Earth didn't blush, or weren't cute of course.

But simply because I didn't interact with women much.

"That's sadly the case most of the time. They oftentimes think they're better than us regular guild workers, just because they can slay monsters." Eina said, and I could understand where she was coming from.

No matter what world you were on, there was always obnoxious meatheads.

"Well, don't worry. I can't slay monsters at all so you won't have this problem with me." I said, seeing her eyes widen for a second before she laughed. "Not yet at least."

"Really? I'm sure you'll be very good at it in that case." She said, filling me with a brief stint of confidence, which was reassuring in a way before I remembered that I was almost entirely unskilled when it came to combat.

Yeah... I wasn't that impressive.

Really, the most I have ever done with weapons is a bit of fencing at school once, and a _lot_ of screwing around with Nerf swords when I was younger… But that didn't _really_ qualify as training now did it? Not to mention that even then, the shooting with Nerf guns wouldn't help me here either...

Guns still weren't a thing.

"That's nice of you to say." I continued, before looking at her and folding my hands. "But that's not the point… Really, they have no real _reason_ to be rude to advisers. I mean, what would adventurers do without the Adventurers Guild keeping the entire world working for them?"

It was more than a fair point.

From what I had understood from the anime, all the monster drops and all the crystals which dropped were traded into the Adventurers Guild for money… Sure, they could be traded elsewhere, but here it probably had the best exchange rate.

Going off of _that_ knowledge, it was safe to assume they then made sure they were all used to power things, start fires, pay for equipment, and act as a fund for Dungeon maintenance, city maintenance, and infrastructure.

The Adventurers Guild is one of the most, if not the _absolute_ most important organized group in the city.

"That's certainly a good point." She said, smiling at me slightly, before taking out a small leather-bound binder. Just the way she said that made me warm inside, and I felt my hand twitch slightly. "I like you, Max… Or at least, I like you enough to show you all this _wonderful_ paperwork."

Taking in a deep breath, I let it out a moment later, before looking at her.

My hand shaking wasn't normal. Probably a sign of minor anxiety. Just the fact that I was aware of that was strange, and not normal, but I didn't care. Knowing everything about _yourself_ was more important than knowing _anything_ else. Or at least, that was what I had decided a long time ago.

I looked at my hand once more, and it stopped, but the feeling never left. Though still, even as I thought about it, everything calmed down slightly… I hadn't even realized my heart was beating loud enough for me to hear it.

But with the recognition of it, everything was almost _blissfully_ peaceful again.

"Well, that's a lot." In the past ten seconds of me simply _breathing_ , she had dropped an entire stack of paperwork in front of me. Looking at it, she shrugged before leaning back in the seat and looking at me.

"Sorry, but it's necessary if you want to be an adventurer."

"Ah, all those liability forms in the event I don't make it back alive I assume?" I asked humorously, and she didn't even _try_ to deny that's what they were. Looking at them though, I noticed no fine print.

Odds were good that they simply didn't have someone with small enough handwriting to do it, seeing as the printing press had yet to be created.

"Yup! You will first fill out these forms… " Eina said, before standing and gesturing to me. "Would you like a glass of water?"

Only now noticing how dry my mouth and throat had become, I nodded.

I was unbelievably nervous as I read the papers, and as she left, I found that whatever small comfort I took in her presence was gone… It was strange. I almost never got close to people that quickly… Really, there shouldn't be a reason for me to feel so comfortable with her.

Yet I did.

Taking another deep breath, I skimmed over the forms. No fine print, everything was plain as day. There was an ink bottle left in front of my right hand, with a small ink pen beside it…

Reading over the forms quickly, I got the general gist of them.

If I died, nobody in either my familia or family could sue the Adventurers Guild. Anything I do is of my own choice, and I am never forced into anything… There's a section which _specifically_ notes that I can deny _anything_ a guild worker tells me to do. Perhaps that was an oversight, but already I was thinking of a way to abuse that.

Reading further, I found the part where it clarified that wasn't _quite_ the case.

There were some more minor things, like legal details about what would happen if I were to find a new, unmapped part of the Dungeon, but I figured this wouldn't apply to me _ever_. If I were to go down, odds are, I'd stay on the beaten path. To me, it seemed as though I would either stay on the beaten path or die-off of it.

Reaching forwards, I grasped the pen and brought it to the page.

Signing ' _Max'_ in pleasant cursive everywhere required, I eventually finished leaving behind a neat stack of papers. Once the ink had dried of course. Looking around, I saw Eina approaching a moment later, a mug in her hand.

"Thank you." Reaching upwards, I took it from her hands, as she let me.

"You're welcome."

Sitting down across from me, her hands went forwards, taking the papers and straightening them before she flicked through them, checking for inaccuracies, or bits I missed.

I took a sip of water, the cool liquid rushing down my throat and treating the parched symptoms I'd developed over the day. It was absolutely refreshing. Looking into the cup, I admired how clear it was… It reminded me of how clear it was at home.

Breathing far more easily now, I looked at Eina as she flicked through the papers.

I was comfortable in her presence… Thanks to her and this simple mug of water, I was feeling _much_ calmer, the previous anxiety was gone for now, and the nervous feeling building in my chest vanished. Hopefully, it wouldn't return…

In all honesty, it seemed like it wouldn't for as long as Eina was in my immediate surroundings.

"Alright! Looks like these are all in order Max."

"Great. Now, I assume there's more?" I said with a wince. While I _was_ feeling better, it still wasn't to the point of which I'd _like_ to do more paperwork with this cute girl.

"Yup. Just a bit more, and then we'll give you a brief rundown of adventuring, and how it works." She said, before glancing at the papers, and her brow furrowed for a second. "Though, I _did_ notice that there's no last name on any of the signatures… Any reason?"

Ah, that was a difficult question to answer.

Was I supposed to say it was something nobody could pronounce? Should I say I never learned how to spell it? There were a huge amount of thoughts in my head, but I looked at her and realized she'd know if I was lying… So, what I would do is simple.

I'd tell her the truth.

"I'd prefer not to put my last name down… The name reminds me of home." I said, before continuing. "I probably won't see my family for a long time… I've left them, or maybe they've left me behind, but I won't be seeing them for a _very_ long time Eina."

That was true. Either I had left their world, and been dropped into this one, or they had never been real, to begin with… Meaning I had existed in this world the entire time, trapped in some sort of fantasy. The second one was far less likely, however... My unconscious mind wouldn't have been able to recreate an entire Earth, and all the mechanics inside it.

But there could be more theorizing about how I got to Orario later.

My eyes flicked back up towards Eina, and I saw her briefly purse her lips. Then, she nodded and a sad look came to Eina's eyes. I wasn't the king of social cues, but I was _fairly_ sure that I was correct with my assumptions.

Now, I didn't know a whole lot about Eina Tulle, other than what the anime showed… I had never gotten a chance to read the light novels, and the manga remains unfinished somewhere on my computer back at home… But, it never _seemed_ like she had a tragic backstory that the current understanding on her face seemed to present.

"I can understand being unable to see your family for a long time… I haven't seen my own in too many years to count." She said, before gathering up the papers and putting down some new ones. "Don't worry about putting the last name down."

There was a brief moment of silence, in which it looked like she was about to share something with me… I _should've_ said something then, but I didn't… Curse my awkward self. We all had those faults, those moments in which we could've and should've done something. This was one of those moments, and I hesitated to act. I could've acted, should've acted... I could've been better.

Or at least, _I_ thought so.

"Now, _these_ forms will have to be rewritten every once and a while for the Adventurers Guild." Eina said, continuing explaining for me, as she explained the forms. "They contain a list of your current stats, skills, and other physical statistics so we know who you are and what you can do."

"Will I be getting an ID with all of this on it?" I asked. It was important to have an ID of some kind, but one with all my skills and statistics on it would be unwise. If I were to lose it, the finder would know everything about me.

Which was a bad thing… Information was power.

"You'll be getting an identification card, with your picture, and name, and that's it." She said, before pushing the form towards me to fill out. "If you don't know anything, leave it blank."

I looked at the sheet, and saw that it seemed fairly standard… In fact, it was nearly _familiar_ … Wait a second. This was a character sheet from a role-playing game! I'm not sure which one, but it was awfully similar to something I've seen before.

There was a spot for skills, abilities, stats, and what gear I had on me.

That… That was something I couldn't quite fill out yet.

Mainly, this was due to the fact that I didn't have a 'Blessing'. From what I could vaguely remember from the anime, every adventurer joined a 'Familia' which was run by a certain God, who has come down from Heaven and gained one of these blessings.

With a blessing, their physical attributes, magic affinity, and skills would change.

For example, with a blessing, I would be able to quantify how quick I was, using numbers from one to nine hundred and ninety-nine. Then, I would be able to level up, if I did something even a god would be impressed with, and start the cycle of raising stats all over again.

With the blessing, it's also safe to assume that my body would be _far_ more accepting of magic, and be able to channel it with ease… I couldn't quite recall what they referred to it as, but my body with a blessing would be able to channel more mana, and thus be able to cast more spells and more _powerful_ spells.

Then, there were skills.

So far, the only skill I remembered was Bell's skill: 'Liaris Freese' I think it was called. Due to his feelings for Aiz Wallenstein, the skill manifested and would let him grow _stupidly_ quick. There were probably other more practical skills, which were less overpowered, but you got the idea. In general, they'd make me more powerful in combat.

It was for reasons like the above, that I needed a blessing.

Something I didn't have _yet_.

Shaking my head, I grabbed the pen. I could still fill out some of the forms. During my thinking earlier, I had prepared for this, and a way to explain why I wasn't able to put down my skills and stats if asked. Not to mention, I had realized which Familia it made the most sense to fake be a part of.

 _Name: Max_

 _Sex: Male_

 _Race: Human_

 _Height: 5' 8''_

 _Weight: 153 lbs._

 _Eyes: Blue_

 _Hair: Brown_

I… I wasn't a particularly _impressive_ looking person. Of a moderate build and frame, I stood about five foot eight. I wasn't jacked, or rippling with muscle like some superhero, or tone like all those swimmers and dancers everyone likes writing about so much. My face was normal, with no astounding features and none of the terrifying scars most people tended to 'have' when they were inserted into a fantasy world.

I was just average and totally fine with that. _(Though if you were to ask me, I'd say I'm slightly more handsome than your average Joe. No offence to any Joes in the audience.)_

Even when I was simply thinking about myself, a lock of brown hair slumped into my face, and I blew it out of the way. Here, I would need to save every penny, meaning that there was no real haircut anytime soon for me.

That's simply the way it would be.

As my mind returned to the form, I left the stats, skills, and gear tabs unfilled, before I saw the familia box, and dipped the pen into the small inkpot once more. In a brand new world, and I'm already lying… Why must we humans be so naturally corrupt?

Looking up to Eina, I saw her looking the other way. Hopefully, she'd understand if I changed it later… Or just plain told her later. About _everything_. Earth, the future... The backstories of those around her... I could say so much, and it would be so easy... But that would change far too many things. No, I would simply have to remain in the moment.

So, I _did_ remain in the moment and wrote my fake Familia.

 _Familia: Ganesha_

There were very few things I remembered about the anime… Thankfully, when I was thinking and remembering earlier, one of the things I _did_ remember came to mind… Monsterphilia. Run by the God of the Masses, Ganesha, it was a massive tournament-style event held every year.

But more importantly, it was run by a _large_ familia, which was boisterous, loud, and probably only _kind_ _of_ organized.

The Ganesha Familia's god was boisterous, and probably bad with paperwork. The odds that something would get lost and I would cease to exist on _his_ side was good, meaning that he'd never know, and the Adventurers Guild would never get confirmation that I was a part of his familia.

Meaning that, until I was _properly_ in a Familia, I would be able to essentially 'hide' in his.

It wasn't a foolproof plan. For all I knew, they could keep extensive records of the calorie count of everyone in the familia… But running the odds, I knew that the odds were best if I simply assumed that yes, things would work out if I chose to put his name down.

"Sorry for not having more to fill in… Just got my blessing a few days ago, and since then I haven't had a chance to get Ganesha to read me my stats." I said, handing her the forms. What a relief that was… I remembered how Hestia straddled Bell to read his stats, and I did _**not**_ want an elephant god of the 'masses' to straddle my waist!

Not in the slightest.

I could only imagine how uncomfortable it would be, with him pressing down into me like that.

"I could read you your stats if you'd like." She offered, but I shook my head. I had a theory, which I had never confirmed, but it would make sense to someone not in a Familia I think.

' _Though, the thought of_ _ **her**_ _doing to_ _ **me**_ _, what Hestia does to Bell is a far more appealing thought.'_

"Sorry, but Ganesha locked them, and to my understanding, that means you can't read them right?" I said, phrasing the last bit like a question, as the half-elf across from me appeared to give a nod of understanding. "Sorry about that."

"Don't worry about it then. Gods locking the stats of their adventurers isn't something uncommon." She said quickly, and I nodded. So I was right after all… There had to be _some_ way Hestia was keeping that skill hidden from Bell for so long.

"I can only imagine that Ganesha is very busy, what with Monsterphilia just two months away," Eina said, answering a question for me… "But don't worry. I'm sure he will find a chance to spend some time with his family sometime soon."

I nodded at what she said, but not about him spending time with me. I nodded at her comment about when Monsterphilia was.

Running through all my memories, if I was remembering correctly, then Monsterphilia was once a year. That meant that if it was _this_ year that Bell got to Orario, I was here about a month before he gets to Orario…

Then, I _think_ he would stay with Hestia for two weeks, going into the Dungeon, where he'd be chased by a minotaur. From there, he _should_ go on a few _minor_ adventures and things, before finally he would end up attending Monsterphilia, and getting the Hestia Knife.

I knew where in the timeline I was.

"Yeah, I'm sure Ganesha will find some time to spend with me… I'm new, but he saw _something_ in me… Hopefully, they give me some kind of training." I said, casually, hoping to lead into this next bit as normally as possible.

 _'Guide the conversation... Don't push it.'_

"Speaking of which, do you know if there's anybody who teaches new adventurers how to fight? Properly I mean?" I asked her, before leaning forwards slightly as Eina fixed her glasses. The green orbs that were her irises seemed to burn brighter when I asked my question.

"Sadly, no. Everyone that can fight, is normally in the Dungeon… They don't make much money outside of the Dungeon, compared to what they'd make _inside_." She said, and I slumped slightly. That was disappointing in more ways than one.

As someone with no skill, going into this Dungeon would be tough without any training.

"Though, that's a great question to ask. Too often people run in, without thinking about how skilled they _actually_ are." She said, waving her hands slightly. "It's always a shame when that happens."

"Yeah, but I assume they don't make it too far before they have to return to the surface?" I asked, and Eina nodded her head. Ah, that certainly made sense, for multiple reasons.

"On floors one and two, we have small parties of part-time adventurers sweep through every half hour to assist struggling adventurers, and hopefully rescue them from a terrible fate." She said, the half-elf taking a brief break before I looked at her.

"Though, that's not to say you should grow confident! We can't save you every time Max…" Eina said, and I smiled. I wouldn't be overconfident… I was never overconfident. However, I _was_ occasionally self-assured.

"So, it seems I should be an adventurer who isn't too adventurous?" I said, looking Eina directly in the eye, seeing them widen for a second before the green irises rapidly flicked over my face. It appears as though she liked that line.

Something I very well knew.

If I could just remember a few key facts, about a few key characters, I could control this city. I could be loved by everyone, and control them all… I could keep them happy, and safe. Prevent futures which weren't meant to happen... But that would also be too breaking, and then I would lose that control... If there's one thing you should know about me...

It's that I love being in control.

"Max, I think this is the start of a beautiful partnership between us." The cute girl sitting across from me said, before clasping her hands and leaning forward to the table.

"Really?" I responded as best I could, trying not to show that I'd slightly zoned out there for a moment. "Does that mean you're officially my new adviser?"

"Yup!" She said, and I laughed as my cheeks went a bit red at just the cute way she said it. Such a _simple_ statement and I was already turning into mush… It was almost sad how easily I was able to be manipulated.

Thanks, Earth, for not at all preparing me for cute girls.

"I suppose I am… Anyways, can we go over the things I need to know for being a slightly competent adventurer?" I asked hopefully, trying not to keep us in awkward silence, or uncomfortable point at all.

"Yup!" She said, before putting the papers to the side of the table. I could only assume that she would take them with her as she left. "Now, I'm going to give you a quick rundown on how adventuring works, and how you will collaborate with the Adventurers Guild to further enhance your experience okay?"

"Sounds perfect Eina."

"Let us start by breaking down the few types of adventurers… Explorers, Historians, Cleaners, Mercenaries, Enforcers, and Supporters." She listed out, and already my mind was whirling about, trying to decipher the names.

There were only so many things they could mean, and some were self-explanatory.

The only two I _couldn't_ figure out the purpose of from a first hearing of the names were: 'Cleaners' and 'Enforcers'... Though, I was sure that Eina, my official and trusted adviser as of a minute ago would go over it now.

"Explorers, are the most common type of adventurer in the Dungeon."

"Their main job, as explorers, is, naturally, to explore the Dungeon, going as deep as they can, before returning to the surface, to document their findings in our Guild archives," Eina said, and I nodded along with understanding. "Commonly, they will make maps as they continue downwards, and take the stones from the monsters they kill, so that they can trade the magical gems to us, the Adventurers Guild, for Valis."

"I'm going to bet that I end up an 'Explorer' type adventurer?" I asked. That wasn't a _bad_ fate, and certainly better than being a supporter.

Though, especially for me.

While I didn't really have a problem carrying a bag around all day, provided I was given the correct treatment of people, I had some scars on my back from where acne had gotten me pretty bad… They were almost entirely healed now, and not noticeable unless you were _looking_ for them now, but I would still avoid irritating them wherever possible.

"That's correct. You most likely will be an 'Explorer' type Adventurer to begin with, and where you go from there is entirely your decision." Eina said, taking out a form and laying it in front of me.

My eyes went over it, and I saw that it was something I would sign to make myself an official Explorer type Adventurer. I assumed automatically given that _this_ form was a thing, that there would be one individual form for all the other kinds also.

It was a decently designed system.

"'Supporter' type adventurers, are different. They too carry a blessing, but focus more on supporting the other types rather than killing things themselves." Eina said, and I thought about Lili… The only _named_ 'Supporter' type adventurer from my memory.

She carried a backpack far too large for her frame.

"They commonly carry extra gear and collect magical stones, so that 'Explorer' types can focus on slaying the monsters and keeping them both safe." The half-elf continued, smiling slightly. "It's a mutually beneficial arrangement. The Supporter gets paid and remains safe, the Explorer makes more money and has some backup."

"Ah, kind of like you and me are mutually beneficial," I said, looking at her as she raised a nicely kept eyebrow. "You know… I get the delight of your presence, and you get my magic stones."

Taken in a slightly more sexual context, that could've been quite the suggestive line.

She laughed slightly at that, and I smiled despite myself. Making people laugh had always been a favourite part of my life… Class clown? Not quite. Witty? Sometimes. But, that was a reason as to why I wrote so much comedy.

Being humorous, and knowing people laugh in joy because of my work makes me feel good.

"While that may not be true, I suppose that _could_ be a model for how it works." She said, humouring _me_ in return before continuing. "Now, 'Mercenary' type adventurers fight for a price, mainly in the overworld, after a career of clearing the Dungeon… Though some go straight into it."

"I assume they're used mainly for raising armies quickly?"

That was a fair enough suggestion, and certainly correct. In fact, the only reason I asked was so that I didn't seem too knowledgeable… After all, the common folk of the kingdom weren't exactly treated to history courses, and wouldn't know half the things I do, about history, and the way politics works.

So, I played dumb.

"That's correct. Whether for defence, or attack, if you have enough money, and the group is fine being rented to you, then anyone could raise an army." Eina said. "Though the amount of people with that much money is far, and few between… Unless you're like the Adventurer's Guild and have large stocks of raw material, it's uncommon for armies like this to be made."

"Okay, so I won't worry about that much for now… Besides selling my body for money is kind of… Well, not my style really." I said, before looking at her eyes, and the way the skin around them crinkled ever so slightly.

She was close to smiling at my comment. Interesting.

"Next up, are Cleaners. Their main purpose is to stop any, and all _monsters_ from breaching out of the Dungeon and out into the city. They also help _contain_ breaches… However, they _do not_ clear anything outside of the city limits, unless it's very close." Eina said, being sure to stress the last part.

Okay… That meant that it was possible for monsters to spawn outside of the city.

Interesting… If that was the case, it would technically possible for someone like me to kill them and gain money through their magical stones. Meaning, I wouldn't even have to enter the Dungeon to make money as an 'adventurer'.

Of course, that would only be a last resort.

"Enforcers are the kind of Adventurer that does jobs for the Adventurers Guild. Things like patrolling the upper floors, and running required expeditions, is done by them, as well as the policing, and enforcing of laws in the Dungeon." She said, and that made me think.

That implied that there were laws in the Dungeon.

What I had previously thought to be a lawless land, in which anything goes as long as you survive, and have a working moral compass, was, in fact, a poorly regulated place meant to be policed… At least, on the upper floors.

The lower you went, the fewer Enforcers, and then, you'd be totally at the mercy of whoever's moral compass owned the blade at your neck.

The more I learned about the Dungeon, the more I was reassured that I'd survive in the upper levels, and in the lower levels probably die… Well, that's probably an overstatement, I wouldn't die in the lower levels.

I'm not skilled... The middle levels is as far as I'm making it.

"Enforcers sound like they're useful, but how far do they really take enforcing the laws? A slap on the wrist, or a dagger to the gut?" I asked my adviser, letting that question sit a second before continuing. "Because while I don't plan on breaking any rules, I can't exactly feel comfortable with tyrants who are murderous psychopaths."

Perhaps my wording could've been improved there…

Eina laughed, as I was brought back to the moment, and my eyes fixed on the green seat she was sitting on. She was in that position for a moment longer before adjusting. "Don't worry Max, they're not about to murder you for not checking in or out."

"Ah… Sorry, guess I'm just a bit paranoid." I said, before realizing something, which she realized also. Ah, this would be a bother… Hopefully, Eina wouldn't bring it up, and would simply assume it has to do with where I came from as a person.

"Don't worry, it's fine… We have all sorts of people who are Adventurers, and a paranoid Adventurer isn't anything new." The half-elf said in a way which _should've_ been reassuring but was instead scary for me. "If they apply, it's very rare we turn them away."

Superpowered people with mental problems… Wasn't that basically the plot of Suicide Squad?

Shaking my head, I thought back to the list, remembering the last kind of adventurer. "You only have to explain the 'Historian' type of adventurer now… I assume they confirm events?"

Eina raised her eyebrow at me but overall nodded.

"Historians a type of adventurer who simply follows large parties, to confirm feats and accomplishments, either for personal use or for the Adventurers Guild," Eina said, and I _slightly_ warmed up to the idea of being one.

Just watching? Sounds fine to me.

"They watch every key event that happens in the Dungeon, gives it a timestamp and then reports back to whoever it is they're there collecting information for." My adviser said, taking a breath and a sip of water from her own mug before I remembered I had one and took a sip myself.

"Don't misunderstand though, 'Historian' type adventurers are important." She said, seemingly trying to warm me up to the idea even more, but I shook my head. It wasn't for me.

Clasping her hands, she placed them on the table in front of me before smiling in my direction. It was a small thing and didn't seem uncommon on her features. This was probably her _real_ smile, the one she reserved for people who deserved it.

I hadn't thought that I'd done that well in the interview, but if she disagreed, I was not complaining in the slightest. The smile made her eyes far friendlier, and it was almost as though a previously hidden grace came over her features, making everything sharper, and far more defined.

"So now, Max… We'll choose your gear soon, and the payment will work like this: It will be put onto your tab, and you'll pay it off when you can, by making money in the Dungeon…" Eina said, before taking the cork out of the ink bottle once more and placing it in front of me. "But first, you've got to decide what kind of adventurer you're going to be."

I looked at the bottle, and it was almost like it was looking back at _me_ … My reflection staring at me from the slanted side of the bottle.

There was a certain amount of papers in front of me, each labelling the benefits and cons of becoming each of the adventurer types, as well as the terms I would sign under. Selecting the first one, I briefly shuddered in anticipation.

This was it.

This was a contract, binding me here, and keeping me from going home. There would be no way, that after signing this, my life would be the same… Everything would change, and for the first few months, or even years, it would be an uphill climb.

 _Everything_ would hurt, day after day, until it _stopped_.

But then again, what's wrong with that? Me, I wasn't pampered, but I had never _truly_ toughened up… While my life wasn't all sunshine, lollipops, and rainbows everywhere, and had its fair share of moments I'd like to forget for my own good, my life has been good so far… Worth living that's for sure.

Hardship builds character.

While personally, I don't agree with that too much, there was some truth to the statement. Character is created by the environment, experiences, people you meet, the places you see. The things you learn, the way you think. All of _that_ is what made a character.

Hardship was only a part of the wide, all-encompassing picture of someone's life.

While it was understandable that going through hardship may bring character, it's not black and white like that. People, humans, everybody at the end of the day is fragile, in body and mind. Some can take what others most certainly can't, and under that hardship, they break.

But now… Would I be one of those who break?

Or one of those who come out stronger, like steel from a crucible?

I always classified myself as smart, in the way that I could solve problems, but I had never _truly_ had situations to challenge me… There had been nothing to push me to the absolute limit, and that had constantly caused me to be plagued with boredom. How could I improve without pushing the limits of what I could do, time after time?

That's the thing… You can't improve without pushing yourself. It's a simple fact of life.

Perhaps it's the perfectionist in me or the side of me that needed a happy ending… Perhaps it was the desire to feel good about me, to finally feel _alive_ , but it was resounding in me. The rush ran through my spine, and outwards to my extremities.

This was a simple choice to make.

I looked from where I had been focussing on the paper, and took the ink pen from the table, dipping it into the inkpot before bringing it down onto the paper. The entire time, my mind was unbinding itself from the rigid schedules of Earth, as my face heated up as I thought about every moment I was spending here, with a cute girl looking at me.

"No matter what comes at me in that Dungeon, no matter what comes at me in this city, and no matter what I face against in these next years of my life, you should know something about me Eina."

"And what is that?" She said, her voice coming back to my ears, even as I smiled slightly. The ink made a tiny blot on the paper, but I barely noticed. I had been waiting forever to say something like this.

"Against all odds, I'll end up being the second greatest adventurer you ever advise."

Then with an extravagant flourish, my signature was done, and I had begun my own _epic_ … My own _adventure_ , in this wonderful world.

* * *

 **~o0o~ The Empty Thrones ~o0o~**

* * *

 **Note:** Here's the first chapter done! Hopefully, you enjoyed what you've read so far. I've also got a second chapter typed in advance, which I'll release a week from today before everything returns to normal.

Now, the explanation behind this fic? Let me give it to you.

This story's _general_ concept came to me about a year ago and has since been sitting in my files for _ages_ before I finally decided to go through with it. Of course, the lack of a plotline got in the way, but I got some help from my fellow writers, **Random O' Panda** and **WarrenDSherman** , and the plot essentially wrote itself. Also thanks to **Smstanton** , who gave invaluable advice for proceeding in a first-person writing format.

But seriously… I'm excited as _hell_ for what I have planned.

So, we'll see what happens. If you've noticed any strange bits with the tenses, spelling errors, or inaccuracies, please feel free to leave it in a review. Odds are, I've either done it entirely wrong, or it was done for a very specific person.

Either way, for now, you should all just have a wonderful evening.

 **-DragonManMax**


	2. Chapter 2

**~"I do not own DanMachi, nor do I plan to own DanMachi in the** _ **near**_ **future."~**

 **Note:** Here we go, yet again into this wonderful world.

Remember when I said this would be the greatest challenge of my writing career? I wasn't lying… Really, I rewrite these chapters time after time, until I'm finally satisfied with the way things have gone, and will go.

A bit nerve wracking really.

Anyways, if you have any ideas on how to improve with my writing, fleshing out the world, or monsters you'd like to see, feel free to leave it in a review. While I've got _plenty_ of things planned, I can't _possibly_ plan everything.

But oh boy… You couldn't imagine what I see in the future. Hopefully I write it well!

* * *

 **The Empty Thrones**

 **Chapter 2**

* * *

With a smile on my face, and a skip in my step, I exited the Pantheon.

Leaving the Adventurers Guild building behind me, I had a massive grin on my face, and my heart was pounding a mile a minute. My hands shook slightly, and my head was light, but I wouldn't trade that feeling for the whole goddamn world right now, even as my knees shook and my mind spun endlessly.

I was going to be an adventurer.

Out of the seven point six _billion_ people on Earth, _I_ had appeared in Orario. I was now here, and stuck surviving on my own using nothing but my wit, charm, and smarts… I didn't have any bullshit powers, I wasn't an edgy emo kid with a grudge against the world, and I _certainly_ didn't have one wish to use before I got here.

Everything I did would be me… That was glorious feeling, the likes of which I couldn't describe.

But I've been sent here _randomly_ … It was terrifying that I was sent here randomly, but at the same time it was liberating. Liberating in the way that I didn't have to fulfill anyone's expectations, and certainly not the expectations of the universe…

Terrifying in the sense that the universe wouldn't care if I just dropped dead.

Thinking back on the decisions I'd made since coming here, I smiled a bit. They had led to me becoming an adventurer, new to the world, and blind to reality… My Dad always called himself naive as a kid, and who know… Maybe I was the same, with a childish wonder at everything.

But perhaps not.

Looking back on it, it seems as though my grasp on what would need to be done and what has been done is pretty solid. There were a few potential flaws, and upcoming problems here and there, but otherwise things seemed like they were in good shape.

Except for a few reasons.

For one, I had never learned what the penalty was for switching Familias… I was fairly sure it was possible, but would the progress made me lost? Would the Adventurer's Guild charge money for the change? Would changing even be allowed? Would I have to re-register?

All of it revolved around the Ganesha Familia.

I had written that I had joined, but what if that had been unwise? Should the God himself find out, I had no doubt that he would press charges… If charges could be laid here of course. After all, somebody impersonating a member of another Familia could do real damage to the reputation of one of the more respectable ones…

No… It wasn't a wise choice perhaps, and was rather one that would have to be rectified as soon as possible.

The sooner I fix the problem, the less of a chance there is of them finding out… Not to mention, that _actually_ joining a Familia, would not only fix the problem I could potentially have with Ganesha, but also finally get me the blessing I need to be effective in the Dungeon.

Effective beyond the first floor at least.

Eina and I had done some more minor chatting as we picked out equipment, and I had learned that the first floor was without a doubt the easiest. Hell, she even said that even someone without a blessing could survive down there, provided they were careful.

Meaning that if I _really_ put my video game knowledge to the test, and my pattern analyzing skills to work… Then I _may_ actually come out of this with a bit of money, and alive. It was a scary thought to think that dying was possible, but that would be rectified soon.

After all… I'd already chosen what Familia I'd join, provided they'd have me.

But if they didn't want me? I'd make them want me. Either I'd make them want me, and figure they _need_ to have me, or I find a different Familia… Something which wouldn't be a quite preferred outcome.

The Loki Familia was after all, preferred for a reason.

They were large, powerful, and more importantly had an whole host of experienced adventurers which I could learn from, observe, and become acquaintances with… After all, what was business if not networking? If I became acquainted with those who are well trained, there was a whole host of benefits.

Potential investing in me, training, friendship which might conquer the loneliness…

All sorts of reasons to join a Familia really… Not to mention, that while the Loki Familia ran high on Adventurers, from what I understood of the numbers, Supporters were _always_ in demand… Every party would have one, but if they could have two that would be better, assuming that it benefited them in some way.

But with a large Familia, where people are constantly coming and going on expeditions, and Supporters may get injured, or are needed constantly?

If I couldn't join them as an Adventurer, I was _more_ than willing to join them as one of the backpack carrying people, and work my way up. I had no problem putting in effort if it was required.

Besides… Being a Supporter briefly would be good.

It would give me a new respect for them, an understanding of their point of view… Instill helpful habits which I would carry with me to my adventuring. Of course, the fact that I would mostly be on the sidelines cleaning up after them rather than fighting was just another bonus.

I took a deep breath, and savored the feeling of my thoughts calming down.

As my mind slowed down, calming from it's insane overdrive, I realized that there was a breeze running through my white tunic. The cool air washed over me, and the breeze gently blew across the lane carrying with it the sounds of music, laughter, and food.

A cloud gently drifted across a pink sky, coloured in hues of orange from the last rays of the daily dying sun. The evening was beautiful, and the events happening on it more beautiful still. Crisp air filled my lungs as I slowly unwound myself, the nerves which had been on full alert from the adrenaline finally cooling.

Like the new life I'd just signed up for, this night was refreshing.

Understanding from the colours of the sky that it was sometime in the early evening, I gave a yawn. I've been in this world for four hours now, as finalizing the paperwork had taken some time, along with choosing my gear… Both had taken a while, as finding some weapons and armor that would fit me hadn't been an easy task.

Well, finding armor that fit wasn't hard. Finding armor that was _practical_ and fit, was hard.

Though, while it may seem like that's the reason, even I knew deep down why it had taken so long. Several of the pieces had been comfortable and worked, but I had declined anyways as Eina continued pulling them off the racks and out of boxes.

I simply didn't want to be alone.

A land which was as far away from Earth as Orario certainly didn't have any of my friends on it… While I was sure I'd make more friends in time, a problem getting a Familia would solve, or through the charisma everyone but me sees in me, for now I was lonely.

I'd tell everyone my tale of arriving here, but they just wouldn't understand…

Shaking my head, I suppressed that before I started overthinking.

I'd have to do a few things before the night was done, and I'd have to go to sleep. Tomorrow I'd be embarking early on the first expedition of my dungeoneering career, so rest would be important… Picking up my gear would happen first thing in the morning, as I hadn't wanted to keep it with me overnight in the possible event of me getting robbed.

All I _really_ had to do tonight, was find somewhere to sleep.

Water would take care of itself. That basic need would be met by me simply getting my hands on a standard canteen, and filling it up at one of the fountains I'd passed looking for the Pantheon. If not from a fountain, I was sure there would be _somewhere_ I'd be able to fill up for super cheap.

Food would be similar, with me buying it using my dungeon money… Though I was surprisingly not all too hungry, despite the fact that I've been here and my body should've made me immensely hungry… I couldn't remember what was happening before I left, but if I had lunch just before the universe dropped me here it's possible I was still fine from that.

Sleep was the only thing I'd have to worry about.

Now, in a land like Orario, land and weapons are likely to be the two most expensive things… Renting an apartment would be expensive without a doubt, and I was sure that it would take time to get enough money to get a good one… But even then, a bad one would _still_ be super expensive, and unable to be secured tonight.

I'd have to find a blanket, or a set of them, and hunker down in an alley somewhere.

I thought briefly about going back inside the Pantheon, but that would just be suspicious.

I'm meant to be apart of the Ganesha Familia… Meaning, that they'd assume I was sleeping where they were all sleeping. Of course, that was all based off of my assumption that the Ganesha Familia all slept in the same building like a big happy family, and the fact that I am indeed a member of the Ganesha Familia…

Which, I am most certainly not.

No… Until I find a Familia to join, make the Loki Familia like me, or decide to say screw it and go with Hestia's Familia, I would be forced to sleep alone… In the sense that there would be nobody else to call friend or family under the same roof.

Not in the sexual way!

Hell, even then I might be over complicating it. All I would have to do is ask to join really… It's not like having another income bringing adventurer would inconvenience them. Though, that depends on whether some Gods are bigger assholes than I thought. But no, odds are, they'd see _something_ in me.

Hopefully something they liked.

But no… It would _have_ to be an alleyway tonight.

So, I started walking and started on my way to find a suitable back road to sleep in for the night. Preferably someplace sort of clean, and with just enough space for me to lay down with a blanket… Asking for a nice neighborhood was probably too much, but a guy could dream.

I decided to multitask, and look for a blanket along the way. Multitasking like this was sure to benefit me, saving time finding the materials so I could assemble my spot of sleep for tonight with ease.

Looking around at the fantasy-style architecture of this beautiful and bright world, I admired everything I passed as I continued looking for blankets. The red clay roofs were nice, and I thought the tiles truly brought a nice colour to the place which was severely missing from drab old Vancouver, where everything was lame gray and green.

Combine the charming rooftops with the cobblestone road which made clack upon clack, as not only my own feet, but the feet of others clacked against it, and you got one hell of a charming city. Looking down at the grey pseudo-brickwork of the road, I fell in love with the place.

God, this world was wonderful.

The people here were lively, and bustling underneath the streetlamps, which were powered by what I could only assume was the magical crystals dropped by monsters. Moving from one place to the next, I laughed to myself earning only one or two strange looks.

Frank Sinatra called New York the city that never sleeps, but that wasn't true.

Only a place like this, where people still _talked_ to each other, and interacted properly, were they truly _awake_. Were they truly _alive_. People here were so much more likable than those even back in my own world… Here they were approachable people, not like people from Earth who just seemed to be paying half attention as they sent crotch pics over Snapchat.

I wouldn't let this world be destroyed by social media like mine has been.

Encountering a mass of people heading for the Dungeon, I dropped one hand to my hip in preparation to hold onto my coin purse but there was no point. I didn't have one. Though, that brought on an interesting point for one moment.

I myself could attempt to steal some money.

Of course, that thought was banished just seconds after I came up with it.

Not only because I was raised to work hard, and respect the earnings of those who worked for their livings, but for a few other reasons… One of them was that it wasn't logical. To steal from adventurers who could snap my fleshy human body like a twig since I don't have a blessing wasn't a good idea. Another point was that they wouldn't have much on them… They're going _into_ the Dungeon at this time it seems, not coming out while their purses are full.

Another, was one of those that made me think of home.

As strange as it was, I was that one guy who always liked the non-player characters in games… Sometimes getting attached, doing my best to protect them. But this wasn't even a game. Stealing from someone would have a _real_ impact here, and it wouldn't be a small one. They were _people_.

While I may sometimes feel like I'm a terrible person, I never _try_ to be one.

Stepping past them, I broke through the other side of the crowd and continued looking around the street. People continue walking about, enjoying themselves in the cool evening air as I continued thinking. This was good, my mind was whirling back to life, becoming sharper and sharper once more as it finally had a new challenge.

So I pondered my problem.

' _All I need is shelter. What is shelter? Protection from the elements.'_

Essentially, what I was looking for, was something with walls, and a roof. A stable would be great, but getting into one and being allowed to stay ( _stay_ ble? Get it?) was probably an unlikely event… Another place meeting that criteria was _any_ other building, but I didn't have money, and I doubted people had that much good will towards upstarts like me.

It wasn't common for people in this time to be too trusting, or loving to their fellow man.

Assuming it's not raining, it shouldn't matter _too_ much where I settle _tonight_ , but in the future it'll matter a lot… At least, if it snowed here as much as it did in Canada... The cold was a killer, and it was a slow and terrible way to go.

I could always _try_ going to Hestia for help, since she's the Goddess of the hearth, and hospitality… But I don't exactly want to accidentally join her Familia out of guilt and ruin the canon story now do I?

No… While I was sure that my sheer _presence_ in the world had already caused all sorts of problems through the butterfly effect, there was no way I'd screw with it _that_ much… Not on purpose at least.

Leaving the pondering of what my existence here would mean in the grand scheme of things for later, I returned to the task at hand.

A small alleyway would be great, assuming there's enough space for me, and some sort of covering. Really, what I suppose I would be able to find with little or no difficulty, is a spot in where the two roofs of the buildings on either side of the alley would just cover the alley. Really, what I was looking for wasn't a _side street_ sort of alley, it was the dead end sort.

One of the kinds where you got mugged, but kept returning to anyways.

I spotted a large brown blanket hanging somewhat low just up ahead. Looking around, I judged the height. About two feet above me? Not that bad of a jump, even if grabbing onto the material would take me a few tries.

Making sure nobody's around, I hopped up grabbing it and tugging it off before wrapping it up in my arms. Spotting a second one just a hand's breadth away, I hopped up grabbing that one too. I felt kind of bad stealing these people's blankets, but what can I say.

They _probably_ had extras… Not mentioning that while I wouldn't take money, I would take blankets if it meant keeping me alive for one more night here. I'm a practical man, who understands that he's worth more than two blankets.

Or at least, I _think_ I'm worth more than two blankets… Right?

Folding them both for easier carrying, I made my way around the city attempting to find an dead end with everything I wanted in it. It did take me awhile, and the sun was easily below the buildings by the point I found one, but I _did_ find one.

Ducking out of the still relatively busy streets due to what seemed like adventurers returning from the Dungeon, I entered the alleyway. Light from the street lamps just barely illuminated the furthest corners, with a warm orange glow and I walked all the way to the back.

At the front, there was garbage cans, but here? There was a nice cozy spot which was now mine.

Looking around, the space was small. Maybe five feet wide, and seven feet long. Really, it wasn't much space at all, and what space that _was_ there, had a small layer of dirt and the occasional piece of trash on it. However, behind me there was a protective wall of cans, and to the front was a proper wall which was the backside of a building. To the left and right were tall buildings as well, and above me a roof.

It seemed to be shelter enough. At least, when it came to the elements.

What was even better however, was that to the side there was also a small alcove, extending the amount of space I had. By tucking myself in there, I'd be basically invisible to anyone looking down the alley, until they were right on top of me, and even _then_ it was debatable that they'd _see_ me.

Until they were right on top of me.

Quickly shuffling about a bit, I moved all the garbage nearer to the garbage cans, before dusting some of the larger chunks of dried mud, and dirt off the cobblestone. Thankfully, there had been something in the garbage which _almost_ resembled a broken broom.

Deciding that the small film of dirt left wasn't good enough for me, I cleaned up the rest for the next twenty minutes. Call it OCD, call it just a random obsession, do whatever. It was my goal to finish cleaning these damn cobbles, or I'll be damned.

I was done and the thing looked clean. Cleaner than it's been in months.

Taking one of the blanket's I had folded up, I promptly unfolded it. Using the thicker one, twice layered on top of itself, I put that on the ground in the alcove as a small mattress. Sighing, I tried to think of a way to make a pillow, but to no avail for now.

I would've just folded the bottom blanket a few more times, into a roll, but then my feet would stick out the end, and be cold… Or at least, a bit uncomfortable.

Curling up on my side, I drew all the covers near to me and eventually settled in, warm and somewhat comfortable. The noise of the city came to my ears, and the ambient noise comforted me. It wasn't quite cars going by a window, but it was good enough.

Soft to the touch, a blanket caressed my cheek and I smiled.

Even if I was sleeping in a ditch in the middle of nowhere, nothing would be able to take down my smile. It stretched from ear to ear, and if people could see it, they'd think I'm a nut. Heck, I probably _was_ a nut, simply for the way I was going about things… After the brief panic and crisis I had upon first arriving, I had accepted my fate in this world extraordinarily quickly.

I was going to be a great adventurer.

* * *

 **~o0o~ The Empty Thrones ~o0o~**

* * *

Babel.

Unlike anything I had ever seen before on Earth, the tower rose over the city. Made of massive grey blocks, hewn from massive grey rocks, the entire thing was fit so perfectly I couldn't imagine how much effort had gone into it. While it had accumulated some dirt on the side, I was sure that a good rain would clear that right off, and it would look stunning.

The tower spoke to me.

Massive in design, the entire thing had a round base and continued upwards seemingly forever, acting as a lid for something which went downwards stupidly far. With a few graceful curves, the building stood out as unlike anything the architects nowadays could come up with.

There was no way that it was made by mortal hands. It was too surreal for that.

Surrounding the gargantuan base was a huge cleared circle, where adventurers milled around looking for one another as they met up under the shadow of this monolith. The cobblestones were set, and the noise carried upwards making the entire city seem lively and bustling, unlike how it had been late last night.

I loved everything about it. The atmosphere, the design, the prospects of it…

It reminded me of the fantasy stories I read as a kid with one key difference… I was _living_ it.

Branching off from the large clear circular area around the base of Babel, was eight roads. Like the spokes of a wheel, they branched off from the center in the various directions of the compass going for what seemed like the entire length of the city, before reaching one of the various gates.

While the roads may dip to lower levels to follow the topography of the surrounding area, they didn't stop until reaching the wall, and meeting a gate. From there, they either stopped, or continued on an road leading away from the city.

I loved the city design… It spoke to me perfectly.

Walking forwards, I adjusted the bag on my shoulders. It had come as a part of the new kit that Eina had helped me choose outlast night. While I'd opted to get the 'bad' gear as my first set under the assumption I'd get it ruined rather quickly, all of it was decent enough to work.

The sewing of the bag was solid, and the rectangular black sack sat on my back snugly, held there by leather strips which crossed over to my front. All the straps were overtop of a snug black outfit, consisting of a simple long sleeved black shirt and black pants.

I'd also gotten two pieces of armor, a breastplate made of steel, and a bracer for my left arm.

The breastplate was simple, but effective. Covering the parts of my chest which mattered, I stopped just below my heart and above my intestines. Not every major organ was protected, but that was all I could do for now.

Both were heavy, and probably the second and third most expensive things I now owned, but were hopefully worth it. I wasn't willing to put up with the debt an entire shield would put me in, and besides… Learning to use a shield wasn't going to be beneficial when the creatures were so large the shield was useless.

As for my blade, it was simple steel shortsword. _(A fascine knife in design however.)_ I had originally felt as though perhaps a longsword may benefit me better, but I chose to try this first. The two foot blade was simple, but would be effective enough for me to discern whether it was for me or not.

Besides, I felt as though it fit my height slightly better.

Letting my hand settle on the blade as I continued fantasizing about the gear I'd one day be able to afford, I wandered forwards through the massive crowd of adventurers. Covered in hundreds of colours, and all sorts of different pieces of gear, they bounced and chirped happily along towards their work in the underground.

Explorers, Supporters, and every other kind of adventurer flowed towards the tower.

I was impressed by their numbers, and already thinking about just how many there were in total. If you could count not only everyone with a license to be in the Dungeon as an adventurer, but rather everyone with a blessing from a god as an adventurer… It was a _huge_ amount of people. So huge it was almost ridiculous, especially so when you considered that each of them had the potential to be superhuman when it came to physical ability.

It was also sort of terrifying.

Weaving through the adventurers who could snap me like I was a twig, I brushed pat a few people. Now with an empty coin purse by my side, I _would_ have to be careful as for now people may steal it even thought it was empty.

Of course, all they'd be getting is an empty bag, but _I_ would be _losing_ a bag.

Admiring the three foot thick gates, and the guards posted on either side, I nodded in appreciation. While perhaps not the best in the event that the Dungeon decides to spew the monsters on the inside of it, the thick gates and the guards should be good enough to suppress whatever comes through.

Or at least, I hoped they were good enough to suppress whatever may escape.

Taking in one last breath of the outside, I stepped into Babel for the first time.

First noticing the forty feet of empty space above me, I was already entranced. Somehow, the entire structure remained up, despite the fact that there wasn't enough support here for the building… At least, to my understanding there certainly wasn't enough there to support it.

The second thing I noticed, was the maw of Hell.

An absolutely massive structure, the staircase was a massive swirl of wooden masterwork, descending into the earth. It was huge, and even then only took up _half_ of the floor space, despite the gaping hole that was in between all the stairs.

It was amazing just how much space they could use for _nothing_.

Smiling, I began making my way to the staircase. While I didn't have much to go on as for what would be awaiting me on the first floor other than what I remembered from the anime, I was feeling fairly ready…

Though not having a blessing, and therefore not having quite such an edge over the monsters was a bit worrying.

It meant that my _skills_ wouldn't improve rapidly, and instead be more normal. I'd be kept a bit more in line with human limitations, rather than suddenly become classified as superhuman since I can just punch through brick walls. I wouldn't be able to suddenly master the blade in a week, or taekwondo in a minute.

I would have to work, and struggle until I achieved success.

Yet another reason I needed a Familia, and was planning on being accepted into one as soon as possible… Even if I had to become a Supporter, I'd do it if it meant that I could spend my nights under a nice roof with people who might feel like family…

Being alone was terrible.

My hand gently caressed the smooth, and no frills pommel on the hilt of my new shorsword. While I hadn't named the thing yet, already it was bringing me comfort, in the form of simple reassurance. There was nothing quite like cold iron to comfort a man!

Though, a body pillow did a pretty good job of comforting a young man too…

Standing at the top of the staircase as adventurers passed me by, I looked down briefly. In the center of the massive staircase was a huge gaping hole reaching down the very bottom. Of course I couldn't see the bottom since I was so high up, but it was still there…

My fear of heights certainly didn't like it much.

Stepping back from the ledge, I started on the stairs… I started descending into the Dungeon.

Thankfully the steps were wide enough that I could pass people, and be passed on either side as people went both up and down. The rhythmic noise of boots against the wood clacked out as adventurers marched, some of them to their doom, and some of them to limitless riches.

My eyes adjusted to the lack of light the deeper I went, changing ever so slightly.

Despite the fact that the massive shaft the stairs created was lit up by a massive light above the stairs, in the ceiling of this floor of the tower, it was still dark. Almost like it was moving up, reaching upwards, the darkness grasped at my ankles, and I shuddered as I continued.

Then I came to the first floor, which certainly seemed interesting.

The floor space was filled with a few things. On one side, the entire floor was covered in some small structures which seemed to act as bunkhouses, inside of which there seemed to be a help desk of sorts. To the right was something… Different.

There was what appeared to be the occasional blacksmith offering a tune up session for the various weapons carried around in here. They seemed to be making okay money, but anyone worth their salt would already have a tuned up and well maintained weapon.

But it was still good to know that the service was provided.

It seemed as though the people of Orario have set up a base camp of sorts at the bottom of the staircase. With tents pitched in the massive chamber, there was a little underground flea market, and I noticed several people exchanging last minute goods before exiting out of one of the many tunnels out of the chamber.

The man made stairs ended here. All other structures other than Under Resort, would be created only by the Dungeon… Created by seemingly sentient earth which was trying to kill us… Created by the Dungeon to make our lives difficult.

While not at all reassuring, the Dungeon was still quite a fascinating sight to behold for someone like me who had little feelings of adventure before in life. The stone was a light brown, and every once and awhile there was a crystal of some sort, in a purple and blue hue which would glow with a strange light keeping the chamber lit.

I assumed the locals would've tried breaking them off, so I didn't even bother trying.

Not bothering to stop by any of the tents selling things, I continued walking forwards, looking at the various tunnels. They led this way and that, and I had no doubt that no matter which one I left out of, I would encounter the same amount of monsters for the first part.

That was a good thing.

Using my video game knowledge of how monsters spawned, how attack patterns worked I would be able to farm them easily… Of course, that was assuming that the Dungeon was only _partially_ sentient, and the things it created were just machines.

Though even then there was a slight problem.

While monsters attacking in patterns was easy to keep track of against one or two, against a horde there would too much to keep track of… Every individual in a group of fifteen could be a half second off, and even then I couldn't keep my eyes on every one of them at once. It would be guesswork.

Guesswork, and _instinct_.

Shaking my head, I looked around. I'd also have to remember where I came from… But that didn't seem like it would be too hard. Just retracing my steps should lead to everything being fine. At least, it was _probably_ going to be fine.

There was a lot to keep track of.

One tunnel in particular stood out, but it seemed to be the one most likely leading to the next staircase, as it was the biggest in size… No, going down that one wouldn't be beneficial unless I was to encounter monsters on a staircase where I would be severely outmatched.

Looking at the various tunnels, I found one which seemed like it would be reasonable. Tunnel number seven seemed to be receiving a smaller amount of traffic then the other two next to it, and that would mean more monsters… Which would at the same time mean higher profits for someone grinding there…

Someone like me, who understood spawn patterns, and the most efficient ways to grind.

Besides, half of the people using that tunnel would likely just be using whatever tunnel they could find in order to go deeper and make more money… I would be stuck here for a while assuming I don't get a Familia soon, but if all goes according to plan I should be able to maximize what potential cash was available to be made.

If not today, then one of the many days after this.

' _Time to get started.'_

Beginning on my first journey down tunnel seven, I was cautious with my every step and more than a bit jumpy when sharp noises came from the occasional corridor off to the side. There was the sound of steel on flesh almost constantly, but the deeper I went the less common it became.

That was both calming and worrying at the same time.

Was there no noises just because the staircase to floor two was down another corridor, and people hadn't bothered slaying the monsters in this one? Was there no noise from people fighting back because there was nobody able to fight back anymore? Were they all dead?

' _No, you can't do this. Your paranoia will destroy you. Think. Breathe.'_

Those thoughts went through my mind as I calmed down. There was no real reason to be afraid. Everything on the first floor would be able to be dealt with, the most I would likely come out with is a few scratches and bruises… The monsters here weren't likely to be powerful, considering it's the highest of the floors, and the power of monsters without a doubt got weaker the further up you went.

So, I should be fine.

Not mentioning that there would be enforcers wandering down every half an hour to check up on noob adventurers like me, so there _was_ a safety net of sorts in the event I was about to die… Not the most _pleasant_ thought, dying.

Making note of anything I would need to know about this corridor for when I made the return trip, I paid continual attention to everything around me. Any crack of stone, whether it fell from a wall, or was the result of me kicking a rock, had me on full alert to the point I was still feeling anxious about the whole thing.

Then, it happened.

Bursting from the rock with a crackle as stone went flying across the corridor, a small green monster landed in front of me, the bare green feet making a slapping noise as it took a step.

The thing was hideous, a freak of god damn nature. The head was too large for the body, and the body itself was a sickly shade of dark green, small and hunched over. Like Gollum from _Lord Of The Rings_ the damn thing had fingers which were far too long, clutching onto two daggers like those would be the things saving it from a certain doom.

Thankfully, I didn't have to see any little green genitals, as the Dungeon had been graceful enough to give the thing a fur bottom. Otherwise it would've instantly won the fight, as my eyes would be too pained to allow me to continue.

"Here we fucking go!" I said with a curse, before ripping the short sword out of its scabbard and swinging towards the little green bitch!

Of course, that's what _would've_ happened… What _actually_ happened was something which made me feel far less competent as an adventurer. Wiggling the hilt of the blade around to dislodge it from where I had somehow gotten it stuck, I removed it from the scabbard later in an awkward jerky movement.

Stumbling backwards to avoid the two cuts coming towards me from the goblin, I swung the sword generally in front of me with one hand, and felt it catch something. Opening my eyes against my instinct, I saw that I had hit it in the head with the flat of my blade.

Now, I felt slightly more in control again.

Hopping forwards, I kicked my foot into it's stomach, bowling it over before doing an overhand swing and slicing the monster's left arm clean off. I nodded to myself in slight satisfaction, and shame at the same time.

I had been aiming to cut the thing in half down the center… Nowhere near the arm.

As though their flesh was butter the blade cleaved through it's skin again, and the goblin blew up into a explosion of Dungeon dust and embers. There was a solid clack for a moment, before my eyes fixed onto a small purple and blue gemstone on the ground.

Quickly, I grabbed it, slipping the thing into my pouch before I heard more of the same rapid crumbling… More of the same wall coming apart, as hands reached outwards pulling against the side to get out faster.

I readied myself.

From what I could remember from my writing of swordplay, and my brief instances of it, low to the ground and stable was good. At the same time, I'd have to be ready to adapt. No hesitation could come from my swings if I bothered making one… It was do or die.

Literally.

Spotting the two new ones as they landed on the floor of the Dungeon, I heard some more bursting out somewhere to my left. Looks like I would have to deal with this quickly then.

Stepping forwards into their range, I stepped back quickly as they made the same forwards two slashes their now dead comrade made. Slicing one across the chest with a light cut, I continued with the motion, this time pushing forwards and stabbing the leftmost goblin in the chest.

He exploded into pieces a second later.

Turning, I raised my left arm and fought the instinct to close my eyes and brace for the pain. Catching a dagger on my left bracer, I shoved my arm forwards into the goblin's face, stunning him before I pushed him away and did another overhand slash.

That time, it cleaved into his head, getting caught on the bone and slipping out of the goblin's face before I regained control.

Looking left quickly, I noted where the stones had fallen down before hearing the patter of feet and jumping backwards. It was a good thing I did, as had I not the two blurs of iron in the hands of another snarling goblin would've cut me to ribbons.

Stumbling at the awkward backwards landing, I deflected one dagger thrust, before sidestepping to the right and avoiding the second goblin joining the fray. Seeing the first one turn, I dropped my blade's point lower and it flashed by the ground in an arc of grey before cutting into the ankle of the monster.

Moving backwards, I raised my left hand which had previously been unused, and grabbed onto the wrist of the goblin thrusting his dagger towards me. Pushing him so that he span, I kicked into the back of the fucker knocking him into his friend before stabbing him under the kidneys.

Swerving to the right and leaving the blade embedded in the one goblin still standing, I cursed.

"Fucking Christ." Now I was basically weaponless.

Dropping to one knee, I caught one of the two blades on my bracer before standing up quickly and unbalancing the next swing so that I could just barely move out of the way. Getting in uncomfortably close, I gripped both of his wrists, briefly struggling with him before knocking the daggers out of his hands.

From there, things were less simple.

Attempting to backhand the goblin, I had my hand grabbed and bitten making me cry out in pain before I punched the thing in the side of the head. While the monster's head was bony as fuck, and hurt my hand, it seemed effective as the thing screeched, spraying saliva before I rolled on top of it and crushed my left arm into his throat.

Jamming my arm upwards in jerking thrusts I eventually broke the thing's neck with a sickening crack, as the spine elongated and it exploded under me, the spine torn longer than it should've been. Splaying my limbs about the floor for a second, I quickly got up and went over to the now gone body that I had left my blade in.

I picked up the blade, keeping it out and ready. I wouldn't dare screw up the draw again.

Looking at my hand, I saw that it wasn't looking great. Bleeding, and slightly torn on top, I'd have to bandage it soon. But really, it hadn't pierced the skin, so much as the teeth had torn across the top.

Odds of infection fairly low… No real contact with any major bloodstreams.

Flicking my blade, I heaved for breath as the adrenaline wore off and my hand started stinging pretty bad. Wincing, I collected the stones popping them into my small pouch. Total monsters killed, now sitting at a nice five.

And that didn't bother me one bit.

I'm not sure how you're meant to feel after killing something. Perhaps empty, or broken, or who knows… It could make you contemplate just how mortal we all are, and how easy it is for us to be killed. But, it hadn't quite done any of these things to me.

Instead of freaking out, or throwing up, I just stood there.

I didn't suffer from any flashbacks, or traumatic events in my childhood of coming close to death… I didn't see the ants I squashed, and I certainly smile either… What could I say, or do to make myself feel bad about it? There was nothing to be gained from not killing them. By not killing them, all I would be doing is giving the monster the chance to kill another adventurer down the line.

It would pay for my life to continue on, and pay for my food…. So it's safe to say I didn't regret what I did.

Not for a second.

Hell, even as I brutally broke the neck of that one goblin, I hadn't cared. Not truly. Seeing the light fade before it exploded into pieces, all I had felt was _nothing_ …. No, that's not quite true. I had never felt _more_ _alive_ , than when I had put the thing trying to kill me down.

Was that wrong?

' _Stop thinking... Stop overthinking things. You do this with everything. You can't afford to. Bring yourself back, and continue. Nothing matters if you die. Pay attention. Observe. Be vigilant.'_

With those thoughts running through my mind, I shook my head and brought myself back to the moment. I couldn't afford to be doing nothing here. Not when there was work which had to be done.

I couldn't afford to break. That would just mean that this life of adventure and fantasy wasn't for me… And I don't think I'd be able to bear it if I was suddenly unable to live this life I wanted _so_ badly.

No, I'd have to continue onwards…. So, I put my video game trained mind to work.

I desensitized. They're not the non player characters… They're the monsters. The mobs. They're the beasts from the Witcher which slaughtered civilians, they're the creatures from every role playing game ever.

I could afford to kill them without remorse.

Once that was done, I only questioned my mental state once before figuring I was healthy… At least, more mentally healthy than most insane and paranoid adventurers stuck in the Dungeon.

Right?

From here, things would be simple. I would continue onwards, noting what sections I found. Then, after four or five encounters, I will sprint back to _here_ as the monsters will had refreshed by then. It would work as a farming method, and currently I wasn't looking for anything other than a way to make money.

Time to push myself to the limit.

* * *

 **~o0o~ The Empty Thrones ~o0o~**

* * *

There was a small tinkle as the gems fell out of the pouch and into the small wooden drawer.

While by the time I was done in the Dungeon the pouch hadn't felt full at all, there was more than a few gems in there… Naturally I hadn't gotten all of them, but I appeared to have done fairly well. The plan for grinding had gone well, and was as efficient as I'd hoped.

It was good to know that my gaming mind was still good for certain things.

The drawer closed with the sound of wood on wood, and I waited. Looking through the metal grill in between me and the person on the other side, I saw a black haired woman 'scan' some item over it before a drawer to the left opened up. Inside, was a few stacks of coins, and she moved over slightly as I started grabbing the stacks and putting them into my coin purse.

"A small percentage of funds has been deducted to help pay for your gear." She said, before nodding at me. "Would you like to continue paying for it this way? You will still be able to pay for it in lump sums, should you find yourself high on cash one day."

"Yeah, keep it going like this please." I said, awed and only half paying attention as I rubbed one Valis coin under my fingers. The small copper coin shone in the light, and was smooth to the touch.

All of them had the head of a different person on one side…

I didn't know who they were, but I figured it was safe to assume that they were gods.

"Very well sir." The girl said, and I looked up again, only just now realizing how cute she was. Like all Adventurers Guild workers, she wore that outfit well, and her violet eyes stood out in stark contrast to her skin.

Everyone here was almost painfully good looking.

"What you just collected is four thousand Valis." She said, and I nodded. Briefly wondering if I should _properly_ introduce myself, or ask her name, I shook my head.

I was awkward enough _without_ having to interact with someone I got rejected by every day.

"Five hundred Valis was deducted from your total income for the day. The debt on your gear was previously, with nothing towards it at thirteen thousand six hundred Valis. Now, it's thirteen thousand and one hundred Valis." She said and I nodded, doing the math in my head.

That meant that assuming I wouldn't be doing anything but grinding until canon starts, and I were to make the same as I did today… Then I would have to work for… Twenty five days? That was about accurate… Though, I already knew what I'd do.

"May I put another one thousand Valis towards it now please?" I said, taking out the pouch and counting out one thousand Valis in coins, as I looked back upwards towards the clerk.

"Just put it in the box." She said, before doing a little bit of tidying up on her side of the wall. I nodded, finishing up and putting it down. Thankfully, it wasn't one coin per Valis… That would be nuts.

"Thanks. Have a nice day." I said, finishing before walking out and crossing another thousand off my debt. If I managed to do that every day… Then that would be good. I'd just basically halved the amount of days I'd need to work.

Or at least, halved the amount of work I needed to do to pay off my debt.

I was about to exit the building, when I heard a voice coming from over my shoulder. Turning, I kept one hand on my coin purse, out of slight paranoia. Though, I knew Eina would never steal from me.

Of course, she _did_ notice that my hand had dropped to my purse, and was about to say something before I stopped her.

"I trust you Eina, it's just a bad habit. I'm sorry." I said, and she pouted slightly. I was perhaps a bit unnecessarily curt, but it was necessary.

When a girl was being so adorable, I had to be curt. Limit my exposure to them, in order to not fall apart due to their charm. She continued controlling me unknowingly… Or did she know this whole time? I should always assume they know that they're in control.

Better to assume they know, than be surprised when they do.

"You ruined my fun." She said, before blowing some hair out of her face as she crossed her arms. It was a gesture which _forced_ her to look cute, in my eyes at least. "Anyways! How was your first day in the Dungeon, Max?"

I took a deep breath as I thought over it, releasing the air in a slow manner as I looked towards the half elf. "It was… Good actually. I might've spent a bit too much time on the first floor, but I'm simply growing acquainted with things, before diving in."

"That's good Max, but remember that the Dungeon isn't fun and games! The first level is the easiest one, and the further you go, the more dangerous it's going to get..." She said, and I nodded with a grin.

"Adventurers shouldn't be too adventurous, I remember."

"Good." Eina said, before looking me over. Hopefully she didn't dwell on my bandaged hand, or the slight blood stain on my shirt… Or how I walked with a slight limp due to my sore leg. There were bruises all over my arm.

I wasn't in a great way.

"Do you need anything else from me tonight Max?" Eina asked, and I shook my head. "You know, I'm here pretty early every morning, so if you ever need anything here's the best place to find me."

"Sounds fine to me, thanks." I said. I had been about to turn before stopping in my tracks. The Loki Familia. I would need to maximize my exposure to them if I was to eventually find myself in. "Actually, can you give me some directions to the Hostess Of Fertility?"

"The Hostess Of Fertility? You just got to town and you _already_ know about that place?" She asked, somewhat surprised. I didn't know what the fuss was about so I shrugged.

"Heard some adventurers talking about it, and figured it may be a good idea to stop by tonight. Get some good food." I said, before patting the coin purse at my side and nodding towards her. "I'd buy you dinner as a thank you present for being my new adviser, but I'm barely scraping by myself."

"What you don't want to accumulate more crippling debt just to take me out to dinner?" Eina said, holding a hand over her mouth as she laughed and I rolled my eyes.

Yes, because crippling debt for the sake of a dinner with a cute girl was _totally_ worth it. Wait, it _was_ worth it if it meant that I could have a dinner with Eina… Though, for some reason I felt as though it wouldn't be overly appreciated.

"Maybe next time then. Thanks for the help Eina." I said seeing her nod as I walked towards the door, before waving over my shoulder, and saying with some sincerity: "You're the best!"

She really was too. Caring, a good time, good looking. She'd make a good mom. Maybe not a good mom for _me_ , but a good mom in general. Whoever she decides as worthy enough to be her husband one day, or wife if she swings that way, is certainly going to be a lucky person.

Kind of like whoever ends up with me! Ah… That's a good joke.

No… I wasn't an asshole, and thus got no girls on Earth. Funny, how that works isn't it? Thankfully, from what I had observed back on Earth, that changed eventually… The older the women got, the more stable a man they would want.

So, had I remained on Earth, I would've been a _real_ chick magnet in my forties.

Laughing and shaking my head, I took a deep breath of the evening air, I rubbed my shoulder. My armor was put into the backpack I now owned, and that was slung over my shoulder. The black tunic I wore was slightly dirty, and had blood stains here and there, but was clean for the most part… My pants were in about the same condition, but generally I was comfortable with wearing everything I owned.

My sword was strapped to the side of the bag, since carrying it on my hip would get annoying.

Putting my coin purse into my bag, I buried it under some of my armor. If anybody even _tried_ going for it, the thing would jingle more than a Christmas elf. I would make a great Supporter… Already, I was good at organizing a bag, and forward planning.

Two likely essential traits.

Still fascinated by the architecture, and charm of the world, I heard music drifting down the lane. Taking a left, I saw that there was quite the large building on the right side of the street. About three stories tall, it was big enough for me to be impressed.

They must make quite a bit to afford a place like that.

Though that made sense… Assuming they scaled the prices depending on the time of day, and when the adventurers would be coming back… They could make quite the steal. Charging more from those that made more, and would be eating much more due to the intense nutritional demands of being an adventurer, they could rack in tons of Valis no problem.

Coming to the front, I stopped in front of the wooden sign. Reading the words, I mouthed them too. _Hostess Of Fertility_. Quite the nice establishment, and if the music as well as laughter coming from the inside was any indication, quite the lively place.

A place where I would hopefully find the Loki Familia, or maybe just a place to not be alone.

So, I stepped through the door with a growling stomach and a coin pouch in hand. _(I'd retrieved it from the bag as I looked at the sign.)_ Almost instantly, I liked the place. It reminded me of the only pub I had ever been inside back home. A nice atmosphere, fun people.

It was great.

Upon entering and being there for a moment, I was already greeted by someone who made my heart stop. No, not in the: ' _they're a main character'_ way, in which I'm starstruck. I'm talking in the way of: ' _oh my god, someone save me now this is too amazing for my brain'_.

A real cat girl, was only two feet away from me.

Standing there all cute, saying something or other as my jaw quivered rapidly, was someone I would've fallen in love with instantly had it not been for my massive amount of mental fortitude. With some sweet brown hair down to her shoulder, and a cute pair of ears, she was amazing.

My mind was simply melting. _Frying_ itself… Destroying everything but her in that one moment.

Standing a half foot smaller than me, she wore the same green dress and white poofy sleeves which were the uniform here. The brown eyes twinkled as she continued talking, and I noticed how the pupils were slightly elongated, like a cat's.

Suddenly realizing I'd stopped breathing, I gasped for air and she recoiled in surprise. My hearing crashed back, and I started paying attention to what the girl was actually saying. God, I couldn't let that happen again.

"Are you okay?! You looked really sick for a second there!" My heart stopped properly the second she started talking, and I saw a cat tail flick from her backside. "Sir? Hello? Syr, I think I killed a-nya-ther one!"

Before Syr would have a chance to respond, and talk to me potentially causing more ripple effects, I nodded rapidly. "I'm fine sorry, it's been a long day. Nice to meet you, my name's Max!"

I hate myself.

Could I have possibly been more awkward!? Oh god, this was like Earth all over again. I was talking too quickly, about nothing and everything… Generalizing events, and then just _thrusting_ how my day was in her face! My face was about to go red, before she nodded back holding a tray to her chest.

"Nevermind Syr!" The girl said before doing a cute little bob. Her hair swished about her head as she made the movement, and I watched it intently. "My name's Anya nice to meet you sir! Will you be having a table for more than one today or _nya_?"

I shook my head. It was nice of her to assume that I have friends due to my _(not)_ dashing good looks, but I still didn't have any fellow Familia members to dine with. "Ny-Uh, I mean no thanks. Just a table for one if you please. I don't really care where I sit."

She nodded, and started walking. Assuming correctly that I was meant to follow, I continued through the pub. Everyone was drinking, and merry, and having a nice time. Some music flowed out of a band in the corner.

It was a good place.

Stopping in front of an seat at the counter, overlooking the bar and kitchen, she waved me forwards, and I nodded, noticing the tights around her lower leg… I had always found nice legs attractive.

"Thanks."

With that, the girl I'll probably be dreaming about later walked out of my life and back to the pub. Figuring that I wasn't going to be getting any more service from one of the actual waitresses as long as I was at the bar, I looked upwards when a large shadow appeared in front of me.

Mama Mia.

No, not in the: ' _Mamma Mia! Here we go again!'_ way, but in the sense that the person in front of me was _literally_ named Mama Mia. She was a large woman, and from how stocky her shoulders were, she was likely a dwarf of some kind.

Her brown hair was tied back into a ponytail, and other than the slightly large shoulders, she was still a good looking woman. I looked up into those stern, but friendly eyes and raised an eyebrow.

"So! What'll you be having tonight?" She said, before gesturing above her to the menu. Appears as though she doesn't have too many customers without food if she was waiting there as I chose.

"Uh, I'll order in a second. How much is a room here? To stay the night?" I said, thinking for a moment. This _may_ hurt me badly in a financial sense, but I couldn't sleep in an alleyway again… Back home, my bed was nice. The ground was nowhere close.

"It's fifteen hundred Valis! Though, that's for one of the more cramped rooms in the attic… Being entirely honest, you don't look the type to be able to afford much more though." She said, and I shrugged.

Mama Mia had a point.

"I'll take a room for the night then." I said, before taking out the pouch, and sliding her fifteen hundred Valis over the counter. Popping them into a small pouch on her belt, she nodded happily. "Thanks."

Stuck to my last thousand Valis, I figured I'd use about two hundred for breakfast tomorrow… Two hundred fifty tonight for a meal, and fifty for a drink… Seems about reasonable doesn't it? That way I would still have a small amount of cash left…

Ordering some chicken and what seemed to be some sort of nice tasting drink from the menu, I let Mama Mia go get to work at that... In the meantime, my mind wandered, but every time it kept coming back to the same conclusion.

I would need to find the Loki Familia.

The blessing from the God, the friendship and loneliness conquering company… There was a whole multitude of reasons. Assuming it came with the added benefit of getting me fed, clothed, and sheltered, that would be even better.

All I would have to do, is make myself seem worth it.

My mind was brought back to the night after a clack of glass on a table. Placing it in front of me, Mama Mia left the drink on the counter before moving a second later to fetch my meal, and I grabbed the handle, tipping it back slightly. Taking a sip, my eyes widened slightly and I had to stop myself from drinking it all at once and going totally overboard.

It was quite good. Fruity and smooth, tasty as a Mountain Dew.

The chicken wings were left in front of me a minute earlier, and I dug into those with some gusto. I'd nabbed an apple earlier, but that's not quite the same thing. This was my first _real_ meal while here!

They were good. Baked, with a layer of salt and spices.

It reminded me of some restaurants back home… They had always made some nice chicken wings, and as everyone knew chicken wings were the universal food of the bachelor. Or at least, they could be… After all, they certainly made me feel a bit better once I had realized I never got a girlfriend back on Earth.

But that's a story for another time. (No real continuation, I was alone.)

Looking around the bar, I glanced around briefly for the Loki Familia but didn't see them. I knew that they frequented this place, like nearly every other adventurer in town, but it seems like they weren't here today… It was possible they were on an expedition to the Dungeon, and if so, there would be no way to know for certain… But in the end, there was only two possible outcomes: I _did_ find them around town, or I _did not_ find them around town.

Finally, there was a event which didn't have infinite outcomes.

Shrugging, I waved down Mama Mia.

"Yes?" She asked, and I looked up at the woman. Slightly sweaty from running the place all night, there was a slight sheen on her forehead but I chose not to even make a remark on it. She would think that I was rude if I were to do so.

"Here's the Valis for the meal… But can I get a room key? I think I'll head to bed." I said, and she nodded going over to a small key rack. There was spots for at least twenty keys… Which made sense, it was a massive building really.

Three floors of rooms generated lots of income, and lots of keys.

Walking back towards me, Mama Mia placed the key on the counter and I swiped it in a moment as she looked down at me. The brunette really was a big woman, and I was slightly afraid… It was only now that I remembered that she was a retired adventurer who was of a high level.

"Just don't lose it. Getting a new one, and changing the locks would be an unneeded hassle." The cook said towards me, and I nodded. It was a fair concern. Copying keys even back on Earth took effort, and here without machinery it would be even more of a hassle.

"I promise I won't. Have a nice night Mama." I said out of habit. It was almost like calling her 'mom' really… It seemed totally natural in the moment, and I was partially convinced that even had I not been drunk, I would've done the same thing.

Walking by a few of the patrons, and around a couple of tables, eventually found, and went upstairs, reading the room number on the back of the key fob. I had briefly searched for Anya before leaving, if only for a brief look at the girl who had so captivated me earlier, but it was fruitless.

But in the next few moments, I didn't care too much.

Having gone up the second flight of stairs, I stood on the third floor. The roof was fairly low, and the wood shone. Surprisingly well maintained for a place in this time of history, but even then, that's not what had brought me back into the moment, my mind racing.

Ryuu Lion.

I remembered her from the anime… Her familia had been tragically wiped out, so she single handedly destroyed the ones that did it… Talk about _totally_ fucking badass. She seemed just as cool in person, with her composed and controlled demeanor, even as she was curious as to who the newcomer on _her_ floor was.

While she didn't own the inn, she may as well have for all I cared.

She had a quiet confidence to her, which to me spoke volumes about her character. Analytical, Ryuu already seemed to be analyzing ever part of me, and the eyes pierced into my soul. I could _feel_ her gaze burning into mine, and it must've been more than a figment of my imagination.

Her short blonde hair went down to her shoulders, not covering the slender elvish ears which stuck out underneath the maid headband she was forced to wear. The dress certainly suited her, and she looked regal with her slim yet sexy frame and moderate build. I couldn't remember if she was royalty, but to me she looked like a princess anyways.

She was absolutely beautiful.

Her features were sharp and defined, the cheekbones high, and the nose slim. Her eyes seemed to pierce into mine for the brief, momentary second that they met, and I was afraid and entranced at the same time. My eyes were a regular blue, nothing compared to her deep blue eyes… The same, yet entirely different.

I felt dirty, looking into her eyes without apologizing for not being good enough.

All these feelings, from this one person, in less than a second… She had simultaneously managed to make me impressed, afraid, saddened, empathetic, sympathetic, happy, and entranced all at once. That certainly was not a easy feat.

In short… Ryuu Lion, is awesome.

I would've said something, anything other than what I said next… I would've given a lot just to have a proper conversation with this _enchanting_ woman, but in the end there's only one word that came to mind.

"Goodnight."

If it went badly, she could've assumed I was drunk. If it went well, I was the polite young man sleeping down the hallway… But while I _was_ being polite, that wasn't to say I assumed that would get me into her pants. Certainly not on the first day of us meeting. Hell, I'd likely never get into the pants of anyone during my entire stay here.

A sad truth really.

"G-goodnight." She said, a bit startled as I went to my door. Other than the brief moment of bewilderment, her voice remained calm and smooth… Some would say devoid of emotion, but there was so much more to it than that. It wasn't a lack of emotion.

It was a distrust… A lack of trust she was showing _herself_.

Turning slightly as I heard her footsteps heading down the stairs, I locked my eyes onto the small of her back. Graceful as she moved, I could certainly see that the grace she'd acquired from her years of experienced was never lost…

She'd charmed me. Utterly and completely.

Reaching for the door handle, I swayed a bit, before opening the door and sitting down on the bed. The roof was slanted, and the room was damn near tiny. But still, there was a small window, and a nightstand… Though to be fair, what more does a man really need to live on?

Nothing. At the end of the day, we don't need much more.

Sitting on the bed, I felt the mattress depress beneath me. Soft, it was far nicer than the folded blanket I'd used last night. I ran my hand over the pillow, smoothing the fabric. Slinging my bag down next to the nightside table, I put the sword on top.

Taking off my pants, I tossed my shirt to the side before getting under the covers and pulling them to my chest. I let out a pleased sigh as I was enveloped in warmth… It seeped into my bones, already making the aches of the day feel better, as the bruises throbbed against my skin and the blanket. My head pounded slightly, but it wasn't really anything compared to the physical.

After all, while I'd been successful in the Dungeon, I hadn't come out unscathed.

Bruises were to be expected, and the cut on my hip was only bandaged so well. I would have to find bandages for that the next morning, when I had time to find them, and get supervision to ensure I was doing it right. Hopefully I didn't bleed out in the night.

But even as I cast that away, I started dreaming about the bigger picture.

The consequences of my arrival, the shifting of canon events, what I would do with my knowledge of the future… Everything I knew was being applied, to changing the world, and potentially the timeline… Unless of course, I didn't change it. I might leave it to itself, and strike out on my own.

There was so much to do.

Finding a Familia, getting trained, finding someone willing to supply decent equipment for a decent price… Conquer my loneliness, destroy monsters, understand more of this beautiful world. There was so much to do, I was already feeling tired.

But in the end, it would all have to be done…

All of it however, would start in a few days time, as soon as I find the Loki Familia, and advertise myself like I was an opportunity they simply could not give up… After all, I knew things that they didn't, I've seen futures they couldn't imagine.

I was ready to change this world.

* * *

 **~o0o~ The Empty Thrones ~o0o~**

* * *

 **Note:** It took two reorganizations, but I'm quite happy with how this came out.

But please, let me know how this is going. I'm really not sure how well this will be received, as everyone here is new to my style of writing, and this is still a whole concept and style I've never worked with before. Though, I'm finding it interesting.

Anyways, by now **WarrenDSherman's** story should've come out. So, you should all check it out. Just search that into Google the exact same way I have it written, and you should find him no problem!

But yes… There's a lot to do. I mean, _a lot_. I planned out all the arcs, and not counting the miniature ones in between, and anything else which just ends up _happening_ as I write… Well, there's certainly going to be a lot to this story.

Please, leave a review, drink a Pepsi, pick up a girl, make your father proud, cry in the bathroom, and have a wonderful night.

 **Review Responses:**

 **WarrenDSherman:** Shush you, you know too much! Nevermind, you don't actually know that much.

 **hzchb11:** Oh, I've got so much planned, and so much to say… Curse spoilers and how I can't reveal it all!

 **ZHsteven:** We'll see how it goes. I'm well aware it isn't for everyone… Though, I think that's mainly because it just doesn't work in RWBY. Something like this, where you can actually be creative with it? It'll work better I think… (Also yeah, the anime is quite good.)

 **fall equinox 1:** Thanks! Though, what is the effect? The appearance in Orario?

 **JackTheWulf:** We'll have to see indeed… As I said above, there's so much to say.

 **Anc1enT:** Err, this is _probably_ longest one for the upcoming future? (Chapters will average seven thousand words in length.)

 **Guest:** Thank you! Also, I'm not old! I remember you, you young whippersnapper!

 **Guest:** I will indeed! Glad to see you're enjoying it.

 **Amadan:** Yup! Hopefully I made my slight regret evident in this chapter.

 **tH1s:** Thanks! I've never been called tolerable before! (I kid.) I'm really trying to focus the thoughts, and will likely go back time after time to refocus things… Already do before posting. _Also a note:_ No, this story has a _massive_ plot which is unrelated to the canon plot. This won't be just some guy following the MC and solving his problems.

This is going to be one hell of an adventure.

-DragonManMax


	3. Chapter 3

**~"I do not own DanMachi, nor do I plan to own DanMachi in the** _ **near**_ **future."~**

 **Note:** So ladies and gents, welcome back. Sadly, it's been a while.

Sorry for not writing more this summer. I'd gotten a job, which I had believed would be part time, but well…. _Didn't_ end up being part time, so basically I'm working forty hour weeks, until late at night, leaving me no time to write. (Then vacation, and lots of travel, which is when I wrote this.)

School started today, so time for the mayhem to start all over again… Also, got a new keyboard, so I am going to test it out while writing this… So far, I like it. Not quite my old one, with the _insanely_ clacky keys, but still, mechanical and satisfying.

* * *

 **The Empty Thrones**

 **Chapter 3**

* * *

I was a bit nervous… But personally I think it's entirely justified considering what I was up to.

The hallway before me wasn't overly long like some lower down in the manor. However, it was very expensive, with marble floor tiles and a plush carpet running down the center. There was crowning at the top of the blue walls, and a bookshelf or table was there every few feet, adding a used feel to the hallway.

It was nice, knowing that people didn't just have all this space for nothing.

The Twilight Manor was an overall impressive Familia home. The walls were high, and I spotted the windows which would no doubt be lining one of or multiple hallways. The grey stone seemed to keep it both absorbing and reflecting the perfect amount of light, becoming warm in the summer sun, and cool in the nights. The slanted red tile roof brought an great feel to the place, making it seem as though the manor itself was designed with appearance, rather than defence in mind.

Of that I had no doubt. The green ivy crawling up the walls of the tower could most certainly be climbed, but the purple flowers I had spotted blooming on it were gorgeous, and brought a new layer to it. Finding someplace like this in the middle of a city like Orario certainly had been unexpected.

Letting out a slow easy breath, I tried to relieve some of the tension within my veins.

When I had sent in my application to the Loki Familia, I was hardly expecting to be pulled into an interview. In all honesty, I thought I would be rejected in a cliche way, before fucking off and becoming some edgy resentful dick that would eventually fuck them up. Of course, that was stupid of me to assume, but what could I say. Too much bad fanfiction and anime has corrupted my way of thinking.

No, instead of being forced to prove my worth in the Dungeon, by killing the unkillable, I'd simply been called into an interview. So, you can see why I'm nervous. Obsessively, in the few hours I had to prepare after being notified, I had my clothes cleaned and patched up, and took a shower for the first time since I got here. Thankfully, Eina had decided lending me her shower and a comb would in the end of the day be beneficial.

For all she knew, I was leaving the Ganesha Familia for the Loki Familia, as I felt I just didn't fit in with the Ganesha crowd. A believable excuse to be sure; not everyone was a people person, and when working for the god of the masses that could be a problem.

Besides, planning and scheming was far more up my alley.

That very fact is why I did my due diligence, and found things of use for the Familia. The position itself was not publicly displayed, but I found it, and while it may have been a bit insensitive, applied. But there was more. I had one good reason for them to accept me, and if all else fails?

There was always the final card. My last bet. My _best_ bet at getting a position.

I took another breath. Unlike the pleasant smelling breeze of flowers outside, the inner air was scentless. But still, it filled my lungs and as I'd done since my birth, I breathed. Shuffling a bit in the chair they had given me to wait in, I looked around.

Only one person was applying for the job, and that was me.

Whether that was a good thing or a bad thing had yet to be seen. The last supporter had died in the Dungeon, in a way I wasn't aware of. The public records only showed so much about them, and listed them as terminated. Working for the Loki Familia could, and would be dangerous, but at this point what option did I have? I needed money, and Falna in order to go deeper than floor two, and thus make more money.

It was an endless loop, and until I was making enough to live comfortably, I would continue… But even once I've achieved my dream of living comfortably, I had no doubt the Familia, hopefully the Loki Familia, would continue spurring me onwards until I died.

There was a near silent whoosh as the door opened, and I turned towards it. My adventuring gear was back in the room I was renting above the Hostess of Fertility, but I almost reached towards it anyways.

Was being paranoid that I would be attacked a good habit, or a bad habit?

"Hello?" The voice brought me back to the moment and I turned left while standing. The man coming out the door was someone I had done my research on before arriving… He was about as I expected. "You're here about the supporter position correct?"

"Yes." I said stepping forwards and extending a hand towards him. Taking it a second later, he shook it. "Name's Max, pleasure to meet you."

"Finn Deimne, pleased to make your acquaintance." He said, taking a step back and holding the door open. That allowed me to get a good look at him, even as he held the door open for me to enter what I presumed was a study.

He was Executive High Commander Finn Deimne of the Loki Familia, or the man the Guild called _Braver_. A level six adventurer, his skill was literally famed, and at the prime age of forty he had some of the most experience around.

He was a very short man, standing at barely four foot compared to my five feet eight inches, but even then I felt as though his shoes were stilted. Dressed in a positively dapper looking purple dress shirt, which was contained by a detailed yellow vest, the Pallum carried himself with confidence, and I could see why women could find his blond hair and kind smile charming.

But, behind the charming smile, there was an intelligence to the man.

While I hadn't heard him say much, every time he spoke it was carefully calculated. I had no doubt that he was likely like me, coming up with things in advance, and playing out every scenario in order to have an answer to everything. Overall, it was easy for me to see us getting along in the future.

Provided there's a future I see him in of course.

Making my way to the center of the room with a nod of thanks, I looked around as he moved from the doorway. In the far center of the room was a fancilly carved wooden desk, covered in little nick nacks and what I could only assume was paperwork.

A plush carpet covered the matching marble tiles from the hallway, and it extended beneath the desk. A copy of the same carpet was slightly to the side of the room, and had a small seating area with two couches and an armchair, as well as a small coffee table.

Lining the walls was the occasional piece of artwork, mainly portraits, which were surrounded by bookshelves, and thus books. It was impressive to see all the books she had, considering that fact that at this point, they would all have to be written by hand and thus expensive to produce.

But that was just Loki for you. Can't be a god of trickery if you don't know any tricks.

Turning my head back to the desk, and the window behind it which was bathing the room in a warm sunset glow, I noticed the said god of question sitting to the right of Finn.

Her hair, as well as her irises were a shade of red I almost found alarming. Bright, the colours certainly attracted attention, as they stood out against her fair skin. She was shorter than I was, and had a slim form… Unfortunately for her, slim in the sense that she too had earned a nickname amongst adventurers.

What could I say? Loki No-Boobs was certainly a fitting name. Even the tight blue and black top which was meant to emphasize them failed in doing so.

It was almost sad really.

To her own right, in a brilliant contrast to well… _Loki_ , was the _gorgeous_ elf mage that I had heard so much about. The other Executive High Commander of the Loki Familia, Riveria Ljos Alf was also known as the _Ninth Hell_. Her magical powers, like his physical prowess, was famed, and I had no doubt that she was as proficient as people claimed.

The woman was tall yet still an inch shorter than me. The long green hair of the elf flowed down her back in a ponytail, and green eyes looked towards me, and around the room. Her high cheekbones and fair skin helped to create a very pretty face. With the slim figure she sported, and had slightly obscured by the green professional Mage's Robe she wore, Riveria was gorgeous.

Stepping forwards, I shook the hands of both Loki, and Riveria introducing myself quickly. Nodding and stepping back, I did my best not to fidget as I stood beneath their gaze. It wasn't exactly comfortable.

"Well, Max, we got your application for the Supporter position." Loki said. For once, in contrary to what the anime would have you believe, she didn't seem drunk. Oh, nevermind, there was a wineglass in her hand. "Really we're just here to make sure you're useful, and not a psycho."

Glancing quickly at the other two, I shrugged. "Alright ask away."

"So, Max… Why is it that my Familia should bother giving you the time of day? I'll have you know, we're _quite_ prestigious, and only have _the_ best adventurers!" Loki said, putting down her wine glass, looking at me with something akin to curiosity… While at the same time not exactly filling me with confidence.

"Well, Lady Loki, as I'm sure you have seen from the letter I sent to apply, but I'm rather well educated. This of course, is helpful not only in the Dungeon where all knowledge is valuable, but in basic day to day tasks as well." I said. That fact was undoubtedly correct, and could be proven with little effort.

After all, on Earth I had _years_ of schooling, in a civilization _centuries_ ahead.

I knew forms of math that they hadn't even _discovered_ yet. My number sense was highly developed, and I understood concepts of physics that they wouldn't be able to even comprehend without a decent explanation. Just the fact I was able to explain the solar system, would be shocking to these people.

Well, perhaps I was getting a bit ahead of myself, but rightly so.

Knowledge of this sort was world changing. The printing press, electricity, gunpowder, physics, mass producing steel, thermodynamics, biology, everything… All of it was world changing here, and thankfully I remembered the enough of the listed and more to recreate it here, if I felt it was required, or necessary. The only thing? It isn't a good thing I had some of this knowledge.

It was dangerous. Revolutionary.

Imagine a chienthrope, one of the dog people. The entire civilization has gone their entire life likely believing that they were blessed by one of the gods, and given the gifts of extra ears and a tail. They could believe that they were chosen, special, and in the end of the day a god up there cared about them.

Being told that they evolved from an amoeba that crawled onto land and evolved?

Well, you can only imagine that people would get angry.

"Yeah, but we could always educate you ourselves anyways! We read your letter, you seem pretty alright, but you need to…" Loki trailed off before looking at Riveria and wincing a bit when she shrugged. "Not really sure actually, we're kinda new at this after all!"

What?

"I'm sorry?" I said, my natural Canadian attitude coming out there for a minute. "New at what? The Loki Familia is one of the oldest and most well established Familias in town! I find it hard to believe you guys are still new at recruiting."

Finn sighed, and Riveria did also before answering. "Well, we don't normally do _this_. The interview, the office, all the heads of the Familia in one room just to talk to some guy. Most of the time we just accept."

Her voice was silky smooth, but her message almost painful. I went through all this effort and for what? If they normally just accept, then why the heck was I here standing all awkwardly? Were they sadists?!

"Well, what's with the interview _this_ time then? If you don't mind me asking of course." I said, straightening my clothes tightly. A different situation then planned of course. "I find it hard to believe I'm special enough to have a new protocol put in place just to have me screened."

Finn gave a laugh and walked towards me. The little Pallum certainly sounded nice. "Don't worry you're not special at all!"

"Finn that could be misinterpreted as rude." Riveria said and he stopped before his eyes widened slightly and he laughed again. Sighing, Riveria looked at me. "I apologize for my friend. He means well, but sometimes is eager to clarify, and must then clarify his clarification."

"Ah, yes, sorry about that." The smaller man said in a much more casual sense than I would've thought possible. Was his cold, logical and calculated side something only reserved for the Dungeon then? Was he simply just shy?

"You guys can leave! I got this from here on out!" Loki said, making a shooing gesture with her hands, and soon both commanders had left the room leaving me alone with the goddess. Smiling in a way that I simultaneously found reassuring, and most certainly not, she placed her head on her arms.

"Well, now that that's done, time to explain then!"

Still slightly caught off guard by this whole experience, I nodded and blinked a few times before regaining my bearings. Yes, an explanation. I loved it when people explained themselves; as long as it was logical it made people seem so much less complex. "Yeah, that would be very much appreciated."

"You see what happens Max, is that normally Familias just accept literally everyone they can." She said, and I could definitely see why. "That's just the way we do things, and that'll probably be the way we continue to do things."

One of my points in the interview was going to be about the fact that unless the Familia gets overly attached in trying to save a dying member, there is no economic downside to recruiting more. Of course, that was an oversimplification, but overall everyone would, and should always want to be as large a Familia as possible.

"So, here we are, always ready to accept anyone who applies ever, and bam! We get someone like you, who is _probably_ in pretty good shape, highly literate, and super formal with his application?" Loki said, shaking her head with a smirk. "Well, you must've imagined our surprise."

"Naturally I don't think that people would be very formal around you." I said, and she raised her eyebrows to look at me.

"That's exactly what I mean! Normally people are much more friendly, teasing in nature. You? You were oddly formal, a letter, a request, rather than a beg." She said, moving some hair to the side even as I began feeling more comfortable. "Well, colour us surprised. We definitely weren't expecting it, and when we _did_ get something like what you sent us, we were a bit off guard."

"So, you guys attempted to be more formal about the whole thing in order to make _me_ more comfortable?" That thought was almost preposterous to me. These were gods, the stuff of literal religion and worship. The idea that they would possibly pander to someone like me for a simple interview, without any great deeds belonging to my name was a bit shocking.

"Yup!" She said before biting her lip a bit. Funny, she had the same bad habit I did. It never did die, and led to a bleeding mouth at least twice. "Of course, that didn't quite go as planned."

"Huh." I said a bit lamely, thinking about how the entire plan was being readjusted, changed, and evolved by the acquisition of this news. It wasn't exactly an easy fix, but I fixed it nonetheless. "Well, thank you very much."

"You're very welcome!" The red haired troublemaker said very positively, despite the fact that she failed. She _was_ aware that she failed right? "Now, serious question; Do you want to join the Loki Familia?"

"Absolutely." I didn't need a minute to think, or an hour, or a week. My thinking was already done.

"Either you're a compulsive fool, or that's a pre-chosen decision." She said, before getting up from her chair and walking towards me. Extending a hand outwards towards me, I made sure to grasp it firmly, but not crush. "I hope for your benefit that you thought on it beforehand."

"So, what now?" I asked once our verbal contract was finished. "I will and can have the paperwork done tomorrow morning, or evening whichever you prefer. My debt is already cleared as well, so you don't have to worry about that following me."

"You've been here how long again? Four days right?" The god asked and I nodded, before she gave a slow whistle. "Must've either been using real cheap stuff, or making a lot of cash to pay it off that quick."

I shrugged. "I wouldn't say a lot. To you it would be pocket change anyways, but for me it's enough. All I really did was follow the simple pattern the first two floors had in terms of where what monsters came out, and I was able to streamline my earnings."

"Pretty good, but don't worry about the paperwork. Now, we're going to get you a Falna, and a room… Somewhere?" She said, and upon seeing my face Loki shrugged. "There'll be room for you somewhere. Have you seen the place? It's _massive_!"

Walking to the center of the room, where there was some clear space on the floor I kneeled. "You almost sound surprised."

"Hey! I remember a time when we were hardly this wealthy. Back when us gods first got here, everything was shit!" Loki said, and I made a mental note to look into it later. Something like the dark ages perhaps? If we were still in the very tailing end, that meant the renaissance and industrial _may_ happen within my lifetime.

Arguably two of the coolest ages of known civilization.

Of course, we _could_ still be in the beginning, or end of it. That would be a bad thing. Certainly, it would mean that either it would have to be condensed for me to make any real difference, or I would have to accelerate us through it myself.

Both of which were difficult.

"Anyways, you've never done this before yeah?" The goddess said, standing behind my as I knelt. Despite my now much shorter stature, she still didn't tower over me much.

"That's correct."

I knew for a fact that she could smirk, despite the fact I couldn't see it. Perhaps it was a sixth sense I had developed for those sorts of things, or a rip in the fabric of space time, but I knew that she _was_ smirking.

"So that means I'm your first?" She continued with what I could tell was a smile and I nodded. May as well let her have her fun. "Don't worry, I'll be gentle. I understand sometimes a first time can be pretty rough."

"Ah, of course a god like you would know what a first time is like." I said offhandedly as her petite hands settled on my shoulders. Suddenly clenching I felt it as though it was a very forceful and not at all pleasant massage.

"What do you mean a god like me?"

"Don't worry about it! I. Know. Exactly. What. You. Mean." As her fingers dug into the pressure point beneath the skin, I gaped a bit and she eventually let go. "But now, shall we get started baby?"

"Don't call me that." I said. That just made me feel uncomfortable.

Giving an evil cackle she started properly massaging my shoulders for a minute. "Aww, why not? Someone afraid of their mommy embarrassing them in-"

"Oi! Stop it Loki!" Came Riveria's voice loud and clear from the other side of the door. "If we get one more harassment claim, The Guild will force us to undergo a deep inspection! We both know what they would dig up."

In the same way I could tell she was smirking, I could tell that she was pouting behind me. But what was it she meant when she had said 'We both know what they would dig up.' Perhaps there was shady business dealings under the table?

Don't misunderstand, I'm certainly not naive. I may not be able to speak to cute girls in the sense of being very obvious with my romantic intentions, but I could see past the obvious. A good thing about my often detrimental habit of overthinking, was that I understood more, assumed more.

I looked at things in a different way, because I never stopped thinking about those things.

"Why are you listening through the door!? Want to make sure he enjoys his first time? Jeez some people." Loki said, and I turned my head just enough to look over my shoulder at her. Seeing this, she raised an eyebrow. "What're you looking at? Ah, shirt off too."

Clenching my jaw a bit at the slightly demanding tone of my new goddess, I took off the shirt. I had been self-conscious about my back for years… That was one of the reasons I haven't been swimming since the seventh grade. Thankfully, the acne and scars have almost entirely faded away, but just remembering what it had once been like often deterred me.

Nearly never did I let my past actions control what I would do in the future in regards to what I chose, in terms of what I would like to do, but sometimes… Sometimes there was no compromising with my own mind.

It's a truly piteous existence, when you can't agree with yourself.

My knees were beginning to feel a slight amount of strain from the hard wooden floor beneath the plush carpet. Already an indent beneath my knees began forming, but I hardly had time to dwell on it.

A pair of hands touched against my now bare shoulders, making me shiver. It was though I had been hit by a gust of wind from the open window, as the hands massaged into my back. It was comforting and a bit uncomfortable all at the same time.

To be fair, how many teenage boys get _used_ to being touched by an immortal woman?

"You alright Max? There's no reason to be nervous, I won't touch you in a strange way…" Loki said, rubbing my shoulders again. Definitely not the greatest massage I had ever received, but then again I hadn't received many. " _Yet_ at least."

"That's slightly unnerving."

"Don't worry, you'll be fine. It won't hurt a bit." My new goddess said from behind me. While I didn't know exactly what she was doing, if what I remembered from the anime was correct… "Not you at least."

A noise of brief hissing came from behind me, and I heard it enough from my own mouth recently to understand it was a hiss of pain. Air quickly rushing through Loki's teeth as she inflicted a wound upon herself.

With that wound, the process started.

There was a splash of warm liquid against my back, like a single drop of rain. Inches below my neck, the heated liquid made of proteins and irons had just made contact with me for the first time. It fizzled on contact, in a way which was entirely unnatural to be a part of.

Rolling down my back, tracing down my spine like a burning fire, it continued downwards. How one drop of this heavenly ichor was able to continue rolling where any other liquid would have run out was beyond me, but I didn't want it to stop. As it rolled, my outer skin burned but my insides were suffused with warmth, and soon the burning turned into a pleasant and hot tingling sensation. Quickly, it changed to hot to cool, then to warm again, changing temperature in a way which shouldn't happen.

Her hands came next.

As the blood of my goddess reached the small of my back, the hands of my goddess touched upon my two shoulders. Her right hand took a hold of my left shoulder, and her left hand to my right shoulder. Crossing them down my back, Loki let her slender fingers trace pathways, and the tingling subsided, leading to what was essentially a zone free of everchanging heat, in a criss cross pattern.

With fingertips as light and gentle as a feather, but as heavy and rough as an iron weight, she continued. The heavenly blood of her own being was moved from the central line of my spine, constantly expanding no matter how thin it was spread… Ever so slowly, it became almost _caught_ , on the parts of my still exposed skin that was no longer tingling.

Almost like rubbing an engraving with paper and charcoal, I could feel a pattern emerge.

The entire room was growing darker in comparison to what seemed like the burning magnesium strip that was my spine. It hissed and burned, but at the same time couldn't have felt more pleasant if it tried, I could hear Loki mutter something, and I knew from what I had seen in the show that there would be floating numbers and letters, rearranging themselves.

Stats were something intimate. They showed exactly who you were.

Once you were able to quantify things like pain tolerance, strength, speed, into raw numbers for any sentient being, it took away the surprised. Pushing them past their limits became easier, and harder all at once.

All of it, because of a few numbers.

Pressing and smoothing something against me, Loki gently rubbed my back. The entire room went dark before my pupils adjusted once more and everything was back to normal. There was the sensation of a pulling, like taking a sticker off my skin, before I turned around and looked at Loki.

"So, am I completely average or what?"

* * *

 **~o0o~ The Empty Thrones ~o0o~**

* * *

After a brief, but quick walk down the hallway I had been previously sitting in the two of us went down the stairs. The whole experience of walking back down the same hallway, but now a changed man probably could've been turned into a metaphor of some sort.

Moving two levels down, from what was the top floor of the manor to only the fourth, we arrived at a less lavish, but still pleasant area. There was a deep red carpet running down the center of the grey stone walls and floor, and a string of coloured lanterns that seemed to be pulsating with light was above. It combined a more rustic and country feel, which involved plenty of clashing knick knacks with the spartan feel of a plain castle.

The left side of the hallway was windowless and contained some select artwork and bookshelves. It seemed to be a recurring theme in the manor, that as well as plush carpets, but I wasn't one to complain. Every once and a while there would be a nice wooden door that likely opened into a storage closet, or bathroom of some kind.

On the right side too was doors, making for a fairly interesting feel. Almost as though in a tunnel deep underground, you were surrounded by walls on all sides, keeping you contained. Arriving at one at the end, Loki gestured towards the door.

"Ladies first." She said smugly and I sighed. If a certain highschool friend was here, and I had been making that joke, he would've mumbled 'Assholes second.' in our typical fashion.

Opening the door, I was met with what was really quite the plain space.

A bunk bed was on the left wall, but both of the levels seemed untouched. I could tell the mattresses were thin but the warm duvet, soft pillow combo made up for that. A desk was to the direct left of the door, against the same wall as the side of the bunkbed, with a single chair. Two dressers in the opposite corner of the desk, and a desk directly to the right of the door.

While the room itself wasn't very impressive, the view most certainly was.

The hallway, had a very closed feeling to it, with walls enclosing you on all sides. While that was nice and cozy, making a pleasant atmosphere, this was far nicer. The large window in between the bed and dresser gave a gorgeous view over the south side of the city, with the currently setting sun bathing it in a warm glow.

It both opened up the space, and was really the only artwork I _needed_ in there.

Turning to my goddess, I raised an eyebrow. "This room all to myself? I personally suspected that I would be sharing rooms with someone."

That was a fair enough assumption. Even in this day and age, land was limited. The building itself was impressive, as it was far more vertical than most buildings at this time, save for a select few were. But still, it's only safe to assume that a roommate would not only be permitted, but encouraged?

She, contrary to my personal belief and thoughts, nodded. "For the time being yes. We have a lot more women than men in this Familia, and more space than we know what to do with. Eventually we'll start pairing some people up, and we already have, but for the most part men are able to be alone."

"Did this belong to the supporter I'm now taking the place of?" Even though my words were similar, I was careful not to stray into the word 'replacing'. That could, and likely _would_ be met in a very hostile manner.

"Yup." The redhead said in a way which was almost sadly cheerful. Difficult to describe, but rather… It was like she was trying not to be sad, not for her sake, but rather for mine. "We cleared out his room, but might've missed something. We're not _that_ thorough."

"Ah, sounds perfect." I said, walking over to the desk. I put down the small bag I had brought with me from the inn there. I would need to return to retrieve my things, but that shouldn't be an issue.

"I assume I'm fine to redecorate as I see fit?"

"As long as you're not tearing down any walls, breaking any furniture, or being a pest be my guest." Loki said shrugging. "We get people from all over, and their room really shows what they're like."

That was met with a bit of silence from me, that was near momentary before she continued.

"So yeah, feel totally free to put whatever you want in here. As long as it's legal." She said and I snorted. At that my new goddess tilted her head at me. "What's funny about following the laws Mr?"

"Nothing, no comment."

Huffing and turning around, she left me in the room.

Naturally, that left me with a few problems. For one, I would need to find a way out of this maze of a manor. While I was sure I would pick up the layout in about a week, until then I was still very much a novice. Not to mention that unlike the previous places I have gone to school, worked, and lived temporarily, there was no numbering system to the hallways, or rooms to make this simple.

Sighing slightly, I emptied my bag.

Strapping the short sword I was currently using to the side of my hip, but leaving the armor in the room, I put on the now empty sack and left. Step one, was to collect my very few items from the Hostess of Fertility. Then, I would return here, and meet everyone I suppose.

Of course, that was provided everything went well.

Turning left and heading down the same hallway I had originally came down, thoughts swirled around my mind. Various plans, and the assorted things I knew about the future were compounding into a rough general outline of what I would be doing for the next few weeks.

Turns out, it was far more stressful than one may think.

Assuming that my very presence altered the fabric of reality, that meant that things would be entirely different.

There was once a philosopher named Laplace, who had a theory that if you were able to successfully know the momentum and location of every particle in the universe, and calculate how they would interact with every other particle from that exact moment onwards, you would be able to tell the exact future.

Laplace's Demon.

It's safe to assume, that by my being here, the particles too existed in a place they did not, and displaced something else. Theoretically, this also means that we do not choose what we do, or what we do when we exist. Everything, ever, is theoretically determined by the beginning momentum of the Big Bang.

Of course, this could be incorrect... But was it?

The only alternative, would be that I existed in the regular anime universe as well, and I was nothing but a side story, that the author had briefly mentioned in one of the light novels I hadn't read. This would mean that the entire time, everything would play out the exact same way as it originally had been.

But now, which was it? Was both a possibility?

Letting my feet guide me on autopilot, I continued this pondering. Was anything here real? Could Elon have been right, and we were all in a simulation after all? Was _this_ the _real_ world? Or was _this_ the _fake_ world that we would exist in?

Had my memories been selectively wiped on my way here?

There was too many unknown variables. This was starting to sound like a monologue from Mr Robot, on whether reality was real or just a illusion. No matter how much I thought on it all, before sleep, when I woke up, or had a moment in between monster spawns in the Dungeon, I would get no closer to a conclusion explaining why I was here, how I got here, or how anything worked.

Even as I flew down the stairs, feet accelerating at an unhealthy pace down the spiral, the thoughts raced out of my mind. The jarring impact of my boots against the stone, as I twisted and turned through down the stairs. It was a run, but awkward… Though, at that moment in time I couldn't imagine doing anything different.

I had let my body control itself, and it ran headlong down the stairs. Was that a effect of the falna, or of my own suicidal tendencies? Was thinking of the bigger picture growing too strenuous for the subconscious me?

No. That didn't happen. I didn't just become overwhelmed by something I didn't know was happening.

Slowing down, but not so quickly that I would stumble and fall, breaking my head on the stone,I continued down the steps towards my destination. I would need to get to the inn rather quickly if I was going to pick up my stuff on time.

Well, I suppose I could continue into the night, but what was the point in taking my time?

Besides, the world was a thousand times greater now that I had my Falna.

As I bursted out from the door at the bottom of the tower and stopped my mad dash in the street, I looked around, and everything, from the people to the blades of grass beneath my feet, was different.

Not only was everything layered in a warm orange glow that was slowly disappearing over time with the continually setting sun, but everything was clearer. Everything was more empowering. The senses that had opened up to me, as the Falna altered my very being were immense, unable to be understood.

 _Brilliant_.

I turned and looked up at the very same room I had been in just an hour before. As the ivy crept up the walls, where before the occasional flower was difficult to pick out, they now stood out crisp, contrasting easily. I could see every detail, and already I was beginning to think that my brain had started processing light differently. It seems as though my vision, and perception had been highly altered. The entire world more clear, colours once hidden were present, and in the forefront of everyday life.

It was like I was finally awake.

My nose picked up various other smells that must've been there, but simply too faint for me to detect before. I could hear children laughing clearly from a great distance away somewhere to my left, despite the overwhelming noise of the city over it.

I was isolating certain things among the jumble.

There was no real way to tell what had happened to my brain. Technically at home I could have compared an MRI of my current brain to a brain unaltered by the effects of a Falna, but even then, that wasn't guaranteed to work.

After all; it was magic, godly, holy power which had altered me. Not evolution.

But then again, didn't somebody once say that science, once advanced enough, would seem like magic to any civilization behind?

Making my way through the city at a quick pace, I continued listing changes. From what I could tell, it extended far beyond the sensory, easily altering physical ability as well. Though, whether it simply enhanced my movements using magic which is then leveled up and measured using the Falna, or altered my skeleton and muscles to make me quicker, stronger, was hard to tell.

It seemed like it could be both.

Overall, I looked the same… But I felt more taut. Less like somebody in a state of relaxation, and instead like someone constantly prepared to _move_. To run, to dodge, turn, kick, jump. All of it felt like it would be more natural, and I would've tried it out, had I not been in public.

But that was fine. After all, I would have weeks to see the changes not only to _feel_ , but to my _competency._

Provided I lived that long of course.

Stepping into the inn my head spun from the sensory bombardment before I quashed the extras. Filtering out select noise, and mouth breathing, while at the same time developing a tunnel-vision-esque view of the world I skimmed off the unneeded information and headed upstairs, weaving through the crowd a new man.

I would be back here soon enough.

Rising up the steps more gracefully than before, I twisted and ran up the next flight jumping the last three stairs, landing firmly. Striding to my room, I withdrew the key from my pocket and unlocked the door.

Like all good hotel guests, I always remained fully packed, and ready to checkout at a moment luggage. Or at least, I liked to think that was what all hotel guests did. Other times, I thought it was due to my minor to intermediate OCD.

Slinging the pack over my shoulder I looped my arm through the other side. That movement was much easier than it was before, and the bag felt lighter than it had been that very morning. Meaning that either my strength was already being somewhat increased by whatever mystical force operated the Falna, or my muscles had been instantly increased and altered by that same force.

Either way, it worked.

Slipping out of my previous residence after a quick visional sweep, I made my descent. Shuffling past two guests who were -from the look of things- were about to go have a _very_ fun time, I slipped back into the bar. This time, I was more prepared for the sensory onslaught and let all my walls down, taking in and sorting through the information, my brain processing these pentabytes of data as fast as I could comprehend it.

Whether that meant I was able to use it for thought and ideas, was a totally different question.

One I had always found particularly interesting.

Quickly stepping between a few drunken lads, and ducking underneath a tray, I glanced at the maids around the room. I hadn't picked up too much outside of what I knew from the anime on them, so for the most part they were abn mystery.

All except for the green haired elf looking at me from across the room.

Fishing my key back out of my pocket, I handed it to Mama Mia on my way out. Taking it from me, she turned to some other customers without another thought in my direction. She knew I paid, she knew I was done, that was it.

In movies, and books people make goodbyes far too dramatic.

Leaving out the door without a single look back I returned back down the street, heading up the slight upwards grade of the road. All in all, I was there and out in minutes, something which I was thankful for. If I hadn't gotten the spot in the Loki Familia today, who knows how long it would've been until I eventually found another spot?

Coming to a stop in front of my new home, the Twilight Manor, I admired it from a distance before entering the side door and heading back upstairs. Without passing a single person, I made it to my room dropping off my bag along with everything I owned here.

Funny how little a human needs to get by, when all is stripped away from them.

Unpacking, I left my gear for adventuring on desk directly to the right of the door, laid out for a deep clean and maintenance session the next morning. While I'd performed some routine very light maintenance, I hadn't properly taking care of the things.

Moving the few blank notebooks I'd purchased onto the left desk, with the bottle of expensive ink and pen, I remarked that while books here _were_ expensive, and would _continue_ to be expensive, the materials to make one were rather cheap.

As long as you were literate, you could write a book here.

I had no spare clothes, so all that was left was my assorted gear, which thanks to the Loki Familia coffers backing me would quickly expand. That too, I would convince them would be an investment. They may not see the need of sanitation, or time keeping, or carrying chalk, or caltrops, but I would talk them into it if need be.

Once more, I'd be fine with going into debt if it meant I could live to pay it off.

Lined up, my still rather spartan space was now a bit more _mine_. Sitting down in the desk, despite my growling stomach and the thirst in my mouth, I opened one of the books. The thickest one, that would contain the first ten or so years of my life.

Then, I began to write.

When here, alone, with nobody from home, it could be dehumanizing. That was one reason prison was so terrible. People were reduced to nothing but a number, their identity stripped away. Here, was it really so different?

People I shared memories with, experiences with, the seconds that made me _me_? They were gone. Nobody would ever quite call my name in the same way, or know the same inside jokes. Sure, there would be new people… But if we all wear masks, if we're all acting, playing pretend for every new person, then…

If you were not reminded daily of who you are, and were, would you forget yourself?

In an effort to stop this, I would write it all. Everything. Every last moment I remembered, and thankfully I still remembered a lot. Of course, I knew more recent events better, but some moments stood out. My first friend, my first neighbour, first pet, first crush, favourite food…

The things which made me think the way I do, and did, and will.

So I wrote.

The family history, limited as it was, and only from one side of the family was roughly laid out to remember their experiences. The struggle across the world, the escape from death several times, the lessons learned, the respect earned. Everything. My birth, the early years.

I would be up all night, writing about who I _was_. Tomorrow morning, they will meet who I _am_.

* * *

 **~o0o~ The Empty Thrones ~o0o~**

* * *

 **Note:** Done. Anyways, like I said, sorry it's been a while. To summarize, it went: exams, forty hour weeks with no time, busy travelling and exhaustion. In which I generally half finished some chapters, to be worked on more now, when school is starting again.

As I'm sure you can see, things went a bit easily here. This is mainly due to the fact that, as pointed out, there is _no_ downside to recruiting more people, as over time they will generate more profit then what it takes to keep them running. It makes sense to recruit any and all.

Well, there'll be a timeskip next chapter of a few weeks. Nothing massive, it just makes writing it easier. Now please, have a wonderful night, leave a review, comment about your own summer, drink a Pepsi, see ya!

 **Review Responses:**

 **fall equinox 1:** Ha, Kronos? Good guess, but not quite… Though, I heard rumors of a Kronos somewhere… Was it perhaps, _WarrenDSherman's_ ' _No Gods, No Masters'_?

 **ZHsteven:** There's going to be a lot happening… I just hope I can do my ideas justice. Thanks, I try hard.

 **derpslurp:** You say 'noice', I counter with 'toight'.

 **hzchb11:** Just do the paperwork and it's done. Though, theoretically they could just ignore all the paperwork and do whatever they want. (Not to say there isn't consequences.)

 **Random O' Panda:** Heh. Alright Joe.

 **Guest:** Thanks!

 **desdelor97:** Merci boucoup mon ami. (Just totally butchered French.)

 **Fan of Magic:** Thanks! The plot has a purpose, and ending, an middle, and a bunch of detail… But I think I underestimated just how long this story might be when it's done. (This one's shorter, the next one should be longer in length.)

 **WarrenDSherman:** Yup! When's _No Gods, No Masters_ Ch 3 coming out mate? Ryuu is _indeed_ the best.

 **PasiveNox:** Thanks!

 **vkg313:** Thanks, I try… Loki Familia is temporary. Can't say more without spoilers… (You're on the right track.) I go over consequences a bit here.

 **enigma95:** " _he isn't hateable"_ Never before have I heard such kind words!

 **kyo:** Promise? Lots of things hold promise, and potential. Thankfully, I don't think this'll be wasted.

 **Soledge1:** Teen before, still a teen. Also, if you suddenly lost everyone you ever knew, and everything you ever know, it doesn't matter if you told yourself not to overthink. You'd do it anyways.

 **Rook115:** Hah. Yeah, I've noticed that with the smaller fandoms it's not usually native english speakers for a majority of it. Ah yes… _God_ forbid she finds out eh?

 **sonic:** Thanks! I liked writing it!

Goodnight folks! Tired, and all that. I will attempt to get some writing done of Augmented this week, and other stuff next week… But oh boy, it'll be a busy September.

 _ **Also, birthday is on September 10th! Woooo!**_

 **-DragonManMax**


	4. Chapter 4

**~"I do not own DanMachi, nor do I plan to own DanMachi in the** _ **near**_ **future."~**

 **~The font 'Georgia' is recommended, for your viewing pleasure.~**

 **Note:** I wish you all a very merry Christmas! It's been a while, as I'm sure you know.

So, I've changed a lot since I've been gone. Thankfully, we weren't too far in, but I've started thinking about everything just a bit different. As such, while not entirely, or perhaps even noticeably different, the self-insert _will_ change a bit.

Also, please be patient with me. There'll be periods in which I just can't write. While I've written a tremendous amount in the last year and a half, (almost a half million words), I _do_ and _can_ burnout, so if there's no updates, just know that I'm not feeling it. RWBY will return, however I simply _will not_ write unless I feel it.

We all know I write better when I'm feeling it.

* * *

 **The Empty Thrones**

 **Chapter 4**

* * *

I could feel the breath of the wind on my face, before dancing back from the great axe barrelling towards me. Sidestepping the stockier man, I kicked back, whipping my right hand across in a deadly arc as my opponent twisted out of the way.

Singing through the air my iron came around, before snapping back to my side with the movement of my arm. Lunging forwards I launched several quick jabs, only for them to be quickly deflected.

Gone was the hesitation I felt before, gone was the uncertainty of where it would land. Parrying a thrust I elbowed him in the beard, feeling my arm ache against his steel plate, before pushing off and sliding backwards.

The short blade in my right hand twirled once or twice. No longer was I unpracticed.

It was an extension of myself, like I was an extension for something greater than myself.

Sweat dripped off my brow, rolling in thick beads of moisture, leaving wetness in their wake before falling to the cloth around my neck. I heaved, my chest rising and straining ever so little against the restrictive leather straps that bound me to my armor. My left leg was going numb just above the knee, where I'd taken a hit earlier in my carelessness.

Yet still I waited for the level six across from me to allow my onslaught to continue.

"We're done for today, Max." The dwarf said in his rumbling, burly tone. Giving a great deep sigh as my muscles relaxed, and my mind slowed, I gave a clumsy nod before walking towards him, hand extended.

"Thanks again for doing this Gareth, really you're unlike anyone else." I said, giving the man praise where it was due. He laughed. Despite the fact we've been at it for a intense eight minutes, the dwarf was almost entirely unfazed.

"No problem my boy! After all, you cannot serve if you die eh?" Elgarm (which is his adventuring alias) said giving me a meaty pat on the back. "A few more months and we'll turn you into a killing machine yet!"

I gave a laugh. That was unlikely.

"That I highly doubt, but if I am able to be made more competent than I should be so." Grabbing a rag from my pocket as we made our way to the side of the courtyard, I gave a quick rundown of my blade before slipping it into its scabbard.

"Blade's sure getting nicked though. While _you_ may be able to restrain yourself, and not maim me, your weapon can't have the same said of it." Mentally I sighed. Of course, the more shabby this blade got, the more my need for a new one grew, and that meant more money to be spent.

Which wasn't too bad, I had some savings now, but I would rather save where I could.

"Could always get a loan for something with Durandal on it. Would cost you a pretty vali, but I'm sure you could find yourself someone willing." Gareth said, and I was sure that I _would_ be able to find someone who _would_ lend me money.

The only question was whether they would be a shark about it or not.

"I would rather not Gareth. I'm honestly not too sure how well the short-sword is working out for me… After all, it would suck if I bought a really expensive one only to find I didn't like using it." Bending over I reached towards the large supporter's pack I was obligated to carry.

It was my duty.

"Then you'd just sell it wouldn't you?" Scratching his beard, he groomed the long, luxurious hair that I wouldn't ever be able to match. "It wouldn't devaluate _that_ much."

"I'd rather have it not devalue _at all_. You know me, Mr Tight Pockets and what not." I said, referring to the nickname the rest of the Loki Familia found necessary to inflict upon me. It wasn't too bad, but was perhaps a bit clunky as far as nicknames went.

Though, that just lent to my theory that they were still speaking in Japanese and it was just being translated to me.

"Fair enough." As I turned my back to him and leaned, he moved his right arm to the side of my pack before pulling tighten the strap. Cinching around my chest ever so slightly tighter, the bag fell into a comfortable position.

Getting a comfortable bag I could wear for long periods of time, and had enough pockets that I would deem it _professional_ had been my first priority upon acquiring some cash.

Heading back towards the doors of Twilight Manor, to rejoin the rest of the Loki Familia in their daily dinner, we continued onwards looking like a rather backwards partnership. I was a good eight inches taller than the dwarf, who stood at a solid five feet, and in general I was _extremely_ tall compared to the other supporters.

They were rarely anything other than a prum, dwarf, gnome, or smaller subtype of another species. A human supporter like myself was uncommon, and not anything other than average at supporting.

Of course, I liked to believe I was a _bit_ better than my counterparts.

Stepping inside and shuffling my shoes against the corridor carpet, I gave Gareth a nod goodbye before slipping down the right hallway. Heading up the stairs, I circled around and around, thankful for the fact that my pack fit inside the manor.

While most in this time period would've found that living on the bottom floor was more luxurious as it meant having to climb less stairs, I found it was a blessing. There was less noise on the upper floors, and it was filled with other, new people like myself.

That said, 'new people like myself' was essentially the 'newest people', most of which still were here for at _least_ a year or two longer than I was.

Opening my room with a thick key from my belt, I strode in, before unclasping the buckles crisscrossing over my torso. Catching the thick knapsack with my elbows, I slung it into its spot in the corner.

Again I was greeted with the gorgeous view of Orario in a sunset glow, the orange light of the big fusion reactor in the sky rendering my briefly breathless. That view would never, in all my dreams, or days here, get old.

It was a simple fact.

Over the last few weeks I'd changed the room up a bit, on the left wall where there'd before been a bunk bed, was now a single bed pushed into the corner, in a king size. It had taken _some_ work to convince Loki to let me disassemble the bunk bed and put them together into one, larger one for myself, but she eventually allowed it.

That was great.

I'd _also_ invested in a _much_ nicer mattress than the one supplied, and getting that up the _spiral_ stairs of the Manor proved to be _quite_ the task. Though, it _had_ proved to be a rather good camaraderie building exercise.

Directly to the left where there had been a empty desk, was now a desk with some shelves! A small difference, but I had taken a liking to recording my daily activities in a journal, and had bought several volumes for other things as well.

As such, I have one of the largest libraries in the building, and it was only around twelve or so books.

Though, whether you could consider it a 'library' if I had written most of it myself was debatable.

Where before there had been a dresser and desk directly to the right of the door was a series of shelves racks, for holding all sorts of things. A wall which I hoped would eventually be filled with books, knick knacks from my adventures, and pieces of culture from all over the world.

For now however, it remained empty, save for the centerpiece, which stood almost comically empty, with a single naked mannequin armor rack. It would be where eventually I kept all my adventuring gear, which of course would be the best of the best.

Which of course required money, that I had taken to keeping in a safe beneath the bed.

Shifting, I sat down in my desk chair, before withdrawing the first volume of my chronicles here. A brown leather bound book, with perhaps a hundred pages, it was already halfway full. Fifty days here, filled with activity and inactivity made for all sorts of records to be kept.

Dipping my pen in some ink, I began to scrawl the events of the day in the best writing I could manage. Thankfully they could understand my written word in Orario, but I preferred very much to be using a mechanical pencil, as opposed to a fountain pen.

I would need to find a transcribing spell at some point though, because truly, it was becoming a bit of a chore.

Finished, I left the pages on the desk to dry before tidying up everything. Taking off my mediocre armor plating and slinging it over the mannequin, I slipped on my slippers before slinking downstairs.

Hopping downstairs, I straightened my shirt before exiting the stairwell and entering into the plush hallway once more. Burrowing through the maze of hallways that was the Loki Familia home, eventually I came to the dining room where most of the members were already eating.

Noticing they were in a conversation, I grabbed a plate and stood at the buffet table.

"What'll _probably_ end up happening is that we'll make it down to fifty eight, and from there get stuck. I mean, we're _good_ , but the fifty sixth floor almost took us out and that was only a few months ago." Bete said with his signature sneer, peering at me as I sat down.

Bete was an interesting fellow, if not an interesting character. Level 5, he was one of the more experienced members of the Familia. For some reason he was one of the few people in this world standing at my average height of five foot eight, but that's where the similarities stopped. He was lean and mean, coloured in a greyish silver for his hair and ears, with a pair of unfriendly amber eyes.

Amber was common in the animal-human species subtypes.

"That's only because from what I hear you guys didn't take enough fire mages." I said interjecting my point before Lefiya had a chance to say anything. "I'm sure Riveria and Lefiya will be a bit more prepared this time, and if not then I will be."

Tione gave a snort. "I highly doubt you could force the expedition down yourself, Max, while we've seen you be fairly proficient, there's a difference from carrying everyone's things and fighting giant pieces of lettuce."

For emphasis she stabbed a head of cabbage as though her fork was one of her kukri.

Tione was a good looking woman, and another Level 6. I had quite the esteemed company. With her legendary bust and amazonian figure, she was an exotic type of person not seen too often in the area. Her fighting style was unique, and for the most part she was the level headed of the two twins… At least, as long as Finn wasn't concerned.

She had a obvious/not-obvious crush on him, depending on who you were.

"I know, but we could get some magnes-" I began before realizing magnesium wouldn't work at all. "Nevermind. But I'm sure we'll get down there. Oil for instance, could splash some then light it."

All of this assurance came from the prior knowledge I had before coming here, and the brief mentions that they'd made it to the fifty ninth floor. While my own presence could change this, it was unlikely I'd have any meaningful impact.

Of course, what we were currently discussing was the planned expedition we left for in a week's time. It had been the cause of several conversations over the last fifty days, and especially amongst the higher levels.

Hell, _I_ was only involved because I had begged to be included in the expedition, and they had let me. Though naturally there would be quite a few people going, someone who is only level one wouldn't normally accompany them.

Seeing as this was, however, one of the largest expeditions planned in Orario's history, they had figured I would be more than safe enough.

"Unless of course Lefiya blasts them away!" Tiona said rather excitedly, the dark skinned, flat chested amazon said with a mouth full of grub. Swallowing after a smack from her sister, she continued. "I've seen her practicing!"

Tiona was Tione's younger sister. If you ever have trouble telling them apart, remember that _Tione_ has an 'e' at the end of her name, and 'e' cups. _Tiona_ has an 'a' at the end of her name, and I'm sure predictably, has breasts that size.

It was a bit of a sore subject.

She was excitable and loud, but this didn't make her a bad person. She cared about other people, and was overall helpful. Like her older sister, she had an amazonian figure, and was an exotic beauty of the world, with short period-unusual hair to go with.

"Yes, we've all _heard_ her practicing too." Bete said with a roll of his eyes and a twitch of annoyance in the grey ears upon his head. "The explosions are more than loud enough, by the way."

Blushing the young elf mage in question appeared almost likable for a moment. "I've got to practice sometime, and everyone says that I shouldn't do it when people are around!"

Coming into the dining hall herself, Riveria was looked to for help, before shutting down the elf's hopes. "We meant in the wilderness, or the Dungeon. Not the courtyard at two in the morning, Lefiya."

"Alright, so I vote that she do it in the Dungeon then." I said, raising my hand and looking around. "Anyone else?"

Four more hands instantly went up, much to her chagrin. My feeling of brief success in finally securing for us at least one night of oh so wonderful sleep was obliterated moments later when Gareth and Riveria looked at each other.

I should have known better.

* * *

 **~oOo~ The Empty Thrones ~oOo~**

* * *

"So where was it you said you were from again?"

The fair skinned elf to my right walked along carrying a small pack on her back, the brown acting as a unwanted contrast to her pink and white outfit. The auburn hair on her head did not shine, as there was not enough light for it to, so it instead dully gleamed.

"I never said where I was from, actually." I said, allowing for her own suspicions to likely be confirmed. Sure, she was a bit of an annoying bitch sometimes, and her lesbian love/extremely strong platonic love for Ais _had_ cockblocked Bell a few times, but she wasn't a dumb girl.

Well, at least sometimes.

"I can kind of understand that, you know. Not all of us have pleasant childhoods." Continuing down the doors of the Dungeon we soon went past the furthest I dared to venture while falnaless, the second floor, and came to what was by my count the seventh.

Despite myself I smiled a bit at her comment.

Orario turns out wasn't quite all I had chalked it up to be on my arrival. Where I thought I'd found this flawless gem of adventure, and pure medieval fantasy, I instead was eventually reminded that many creature comforts I once had were now gone.

Gone was the two ply, and the soft cotton shirts, as well as the plastics I deemed so normal.

"It's certainly not that my childhood was unhappy Lefiya," Kicking a rock, I continued. What was my dad up to now? For him was time still moving? Or just standing still? Was I never gone, or missing for years by now? " it's just that I've left a lot behind to be here, and it wasn't exactly left behind by choice."

Do I regret being here? No. Would I like to go back home?

Sometimes, I wish I could be back in my warm safe bed in the next heartbeat.

"Well, I'm sure you'll find some more things you love in the Twilight Manor! We're your home now." Lefiya said, the elf expressing some sentiment rarely seen in their kind. I should've been touched, and I was a bit to be fair, but rather I was filled with that same loneliness that came gnawing back every so often.

It had gotten better. A _lot_ better. But I still didn't quite feel at home here.

My trip to Orario seemed like one big long adventure, that just so happened to be filled with adventure.

"Home is where the heart is Lefiya, and I hate to say it but mine is still back where I left it." That was something that didn't happen often, me making a statements along the lines of 'home is where the heart is'. I always found those to be bullshit.

But, sometimes, it was apt.

The almost criminally _(in the Chris Hansen way)_ young elf nodded, making no further comments regarding to my past, and I offered little. My past itself was not bad, in really any sense, but talking about it here, now, would likely do things to me I would rather not have happen when I need to be alert.

Making our way to the alcove in the wall which would lead to the sixth floor, we descended once more into the depths of the Dungeon. Feet clacking against the natural stair formation of earth, we went further and further.

Yet still, this great cavernous system we found ourselves in was barely even the beginning.

"Think this is good enough to test it?" I said, looking over to the mage. All of this of course was in order to test out her flame based explosion spells, which she had few of in the first place. "I'm thinking over here it's large enough, and has large enough monsters to work well."

She nodded. "This should be just fine."

Giving my own nod in return, I walked a good couple half steps behind her in the labyrinth until we eventually came to a large cave formation, that we knew wouldn't be there if we were to return the next day.

Rushing with the beat of thousands of wings they came.

Striking flame to a torch I kept my sword sheathed, the light bouncing off the walls.

A massive wave of shadows and black came forth from the light, seemingly unbanished by my reserve of light. Slinging the bag off her shoulders, Lefiya handed it to me which I put at our side. Circling into the massive roof of the cylindrical cavern, they flit about the stalactites and mites like one would flit about a stage.

Cold hard stone loomed above us, ever more, stretching on for seemingly forever.

Then the Dungeon bats swooped low, screeching with the sound of hundreds of demons, determined to claw us to bits. Coming in no discernable formation other than a great dark cloud, they came and I tossed my torch to the ground in front of us, with drawing my blade and slinging the shield off my back.

" _Proud warrior, snipers of the forest."_

Ready to protect the mage as she chanted, the illumination of my torch became irrelevant as a great large magic circle appeared over the head of her staff. The Forest's Teardrop shone, as it projected it, and soon hundreds more appeared around, a protective barrier of fire and wind.

" _Take up your bows before the advancing plunderers."_

I could hear it deep within my bones, the call of something so much greater than myself. The call of something which couldn't be described. Striding forwards, I stood, my very body being a physical barrier against the creatures of the night.

" _Answer the call of your brethren and ready your arrows! Tinge them with flame, the lamplight of the forest!"_

Whirling around faster and faster, becoming little more than bright locations of light in the dark, they cast upon something unseen, causing a furious orange glow of sparks to arrive. They cast down, upon us and on the ground, before the bats screeched once more, turning away at the last moment so as to not be hit by the sparks.

" _Release them, the fire arrows of the faeries. Falling like rain, burn away the savages."_

A great gust of wind came from nowhere at our backs, flying through my air, before bursting into an all consuming flame which drove forwards, a cloud of destructive heat and energy. Incinerating our opponents, it continued onwards, in a massive cone of bright red flame, before the Forest's Teardrop flared once more and everything was dark, save for my torch.

Looking down at the sprinkling of magic stones and tiny fang drops from the vaporized monsters, I was impressed. Most of them had been gotten rid of, either turned back into the strange dust left behind by their death, or of fear of the light which they could see despite their lack of sight.

"Now do it again, but a bit quicker if you could."

So, the next few minutes flew by as quick as the bats we'd just incinerated. After I finished off the few stragglers from the initial spell, we continued throughout the floor from cavernous space to cavernous space, clearing them out.

Collecting all the magic stones was a bit of a hassle, if only because there was so many.

Casting twice more, she looked at me with determination in her eyes to go further than ever before, as though impressing me would be some sort of reward in its own right. It's not exactly like I _wasn't_ impressed, but I rarely showed things like that.

Lefiya was indeed, quite the powerful mage for a level three, and I could most certainly see how she was a valuable student to Riveria, and asset to Loki.

Positively dripping from sweat a half hour later, Lefiya's lungs were clearly not doing so good after this exhausting exertion of her strength. Some may argue that a mage has a far easier job than most frontline fighters, but that's simply incorrect when it comes to long periods of time.

After all, to avoid a mind down they need to be using their spells when it counts, and the mental exhaustion of the dilemma to, or not to itself could be deadly. And, if they were not deciding, and using it all at once, then they faced a greater risk of death.

Beings like us could only harness forces greater than ourselves for so long.

I had taken it upon myself to carry her bag, as I was used to creating larger loads than myself in my roll as a Supporter. Walking back to the staircase, I would've offered to carry her too if I was not incapable.

"Well that went fairly well." I said, breaking the silence. I knew she wouldn't ask for a break, no matter the strain I put on her, but I could use this conversation as an excuse for one. Looking around the curving corridors ahead of us, I remarked that there was no recent tracks in the vicinity.

"I think so too." Noticing I'd stopped, she took a step back, putting her hands on her hips before leaning with her face to the ceiling. "Though, it's a bit tougher getting down here than it is to just do it outside."

"True."

Lefiya wasn't wrong in that regard. We'd left just after dinner, and upon our return it would probably be the early hours of the morning. We would need to leave earlier the next day if we were to do the same.

"Yeah… But have you noticed something Lefiya?" Asking her, I waited for a response while going over it all in my head once more.

"Noticed what?"

"Well, I planned to come down with you, and defend you while you cast right?" Gazing around, my eyes went over every surface, as my hand lingered on the handle of my shortsword. "But there's been no smaller groups of monsters here today."

"Except for the stragglers you've missed during your blasts, there's been no monsters here… We've been to this floor before, and it's normally chock-full." I continued, still looking around for where they might have disappeared to.

Better the enemy you know, than the one that's missing.

"How do you know they weren't afraid of my explosions?" The auburn haired elf said, believing for a moment that she could've had the power to frighten the things that feel no fear. "It could be that they heard it and all ran away."

"It's highly unlikely." Being straight up was the best option, always. Being blunt without being rude was a difficult skill to learn, and one I could not say that I had mastered.

"All I'm saying is that even if they _have_ ran away, they must've ran _somewhere_. Not to mention that it's been a good half an hour since your last casting, and you're unlikely to have scared them for _that_ long." At least I would give her the idea, the _hope_ that one day she could give them genuine fear.

"So, like I said, where are the monsters?"

This left an awkward silence between us as we continued onward, the both of us silently wondering where they could've gone. Loofa- Sorry, Lefiya was already at level three, so anything at this low a floor to her wasn't normally a huge threat, but exhausted like she was things wouldn't be easy.

For myself, harder even.

Then we felt it.

Earthquakes were uncommon in my particular slice of the world, but even I knew this was one of them. The very world shook beneath our feet, rumbling with the power of hundreds if not thousands of trapped and panicking elephants.

Dust and rock pieces rained down on us, and my shield was unslung as I dropped to my knees and pulled Lefiya towards me within moments. Keeping her beneath the large and scarred, but ultimately still functional shield, I used my right hand to unclip the bag and stable myself against the stairway.

We were _not_ comfortable for that next minute.

Making a mental count to sixty once it was over, I ensured Lefiya wouldn't leave in the event of any terrible aftershocks, before taking off the shield umbrella and going back to a stand. Slinging on and strapping the bag back to myself, I put the shield back at it's side.

"Let's hurry back the surface then."

So, making good time up the stairs, we hustled our way through the fourth floor, eventually coming to a place where the hustling couldn't continue. The only thing that had been keeping us going at the pace we were before was my mid-tier physical stats being roughly equivalent to her low level three stats. (With her of course still slowing herself considerably, and me really hurrying.)

Monsters it appeared, were not down with the hustle.

Bursting from the sides of the cave walls, they entered the corridor with a ferocity that I couldn't deny. Seeming as though they were all crammed into a very small space, they continued flowing out, filling the tunnel with more and more of their dark, black, shadow-form bodies.

War Shadows.

Glowing red faces fixing upon the two of us, they continued funneling in and I turned over my shoulder, right hand drawing my blade as I did so. Slinging off the bag while trying not to cut myself, I let the shield came undone and slip into my palm in a practiced gesture.

"You wouldn't happen to have enough mind left in you for a partial spell eh?"

Shaking her head, the now quite tired elf couldn't help even if she wanted to. With a sigh, I turned back to the task at hand. "There's two mind up vials in the bag, bottom left side of the largest pocket. You handle that, I'll take care of this."

Lunging forwards, I thrust my blade as though it was the gladius of a legionnaire catching one in the sternum. Already my mind was racing, adrenaline forming and pumping through my veins at the speed of thought. Twisting, I did a backhand slash at the same, slicing through the chest and making contact with the stone that kept it's being in form.

One down, a million to go.

Turning their red, glowing faces to me en masse, the mob swarmed forwards all hoping, begging for a piece of me that I just wasn't quite willing to let them have. War Shadows were dangerous, but I was worth twenty of them.

Ducking under a swing of corporeal claws, I stabbed it in the armpit before lunging past that one to attack the next. Giving a relentless flurry of swings, I slashed time after time, my iron making the shadows bleed, their screams coming out as strange,warped sounds in the echo chamber.

Bringing my attention back behind me I swung as I spun, backhanding the shadow across the chest before slicing it in half and twisting out the way of another swing. Thrusting beneath the blow I charged into the space knocking it down before crunching onto it with a leather boot and continuing to it's brethren.

Slash to the left, another one turns to dust. Shield bashing the one on the right, I kicked the one directly in front of me before returning to it and giving and efficient stab and continuing. Giving an brutal uppercut to the monster with no physical chin, I pushed forwards putting it off balance before spilling shadows onto the floor, rather than guts.

Dust began filling the air after a minute of this, and they continued dropping like flies.

Wincing as four blows landed against my shield from a particularly feisty one I sidestepped before giving an low swing and reversing it to slice its head off on the way down. Grabbing the arm of one, I left my shield hanging by the straps on my arm before giving a series of swings…

I stepped through the dust of it a moment later.

Advancing, I was like the unstoppable force, with no unmovable object to stop me.

Was this what they felt like so often? Training with Gareth was nothing like this. _That_ was hard, but _this_ was _slaughter_. I was tearing them to pieces, another slash took one down, and I spun past one to stab his friend before returning and putting them both down. Each hit to a magic stone was an instant kill, and I was getting better at it as time went on, my targeting improving, their attacks becoming more and more telegraphed as time grew on.

Jumping I gave a downwards stab with the force of gravity behind me, landing me firmly in the chest of one before I bounced forwards into the horde. Twisting through the air I continued, landing on one foot and slicing, lashing out before bouncing again.

Hitting me time after time, the unique characteristic of their blunt sharp attacks, would cause bruises but nothing unless they absolutely got me on the ground exhausted.

Ducking I hamstrung another before giving a twirl and a slash cutting someone's shoulders off their torso, their shadow falling before my steel like butter to a hot knife. My hands trembled with the adrenaline, the feeling that they couldn't stop me, and I kept going, burning through them like a fire to paper.

As Lefiya would later describe it, they didn't stand a chance.

Left standing there, minutes later, gasping for air and trembling with energy that had no place left to release, I felt my arms shake and go numb before calming, and starting again. The right side of my head tingled like it did back home whenever I felt out of my depth…

Gazing back to the elf I'd left to get the vials out of my bag for crowd control, I mentally checked myself for injuries. I couldn't help but remember the stories from my shop teacher about times he injured himself, and the blade was simply so sharp he couldn't feel it.

While I was most certainly sore all over, and my head was pounding, I could be in worse shape.

"Really had a hard time finding those mind up potions eh?" Speaking slightly strange if only because I still hungered for air, I was thankful the world hadn't had another earthquake during this small break.

Lefiya meanwhile started looking awfully bashful. "I-I found them really quick I just thought that you seemed to have it all under control, and of course someone with it as under control as you had it definitely wouldn't have needed anything like outside help in order to complete their goals because that's absolutely ridic-"

"Please, stop rambling... I've already got a headache." I said to the girl, and despite her annoyance at my perhaps brusque tone, she was also seemingly thankful that I wasn't really angry at her.

Bending over to pick up one of the intact magic stones left behind in a small amount of dust, I made a small toss in the air before catching it again. Quickly, my supporter instincts and training kicked in once more, and my weapons were quickly wiped off, bag put on, and loot collected.

Hurrying back up the Dungeon, the two of us made quick-time, this time without distractions.

Though, it only seemed this way to any outside viewers. For myself, everything was a whirl of worry and confusion. Had events like this happened originally in DanMachi? Was this meant to have happened? I was sure that earthquakes would've happened in-universe before, but would that explain the temporary lapse, and then resurgence of monsters in our immediate vicinity?

Was the earthquake and the lack of monsters connected?

People had always hypothesized the Dungeon was aware, at least in a basic sense, which is why monster alphas existed, and floor bosses… But were then monsters minions, something like a puppet, a remote controlled being? Something sentient even?

Could they have known it was coming and hidden in advance, waiting for adventurers to appear and stumble into an ambush? Or perhaps… Was it that they themselves feared the might of the Earth, and when it was over, came out and were terrified when _they_ saw _us_?

Either way, did it make a difference if either way they were dead?

Lefiya and I encountered another duo of adventures on the third floor, newbies by the looks of them… First week it seemed like, something that for me was only a month and three weeks ago. Agreeing to a quick partnership, the four of us head back up the Dungeon after the surprising turn of events in this late night exhibition.

Wait… Could Lefiya could've possibly caused it with her explosion spells?

…

That's impossible. Or at least, that's what I would continue telling myself every day onwards.

All of us arrived at the first floor after a focused half hour of travel, coming upon the underground, bazaar-like area through one of the lesser side tunnels. Bidding the two other adventurers farewell, Lefiya and I inspected the damage the earthquake may have caused.

Honestly, it wasn't too bad. I'd seen earthquakes on the news before, and anything that would've been like what we'd experienced should've left things leveled, but it seems like now, it wasn't overly destructive.

Mostly wooden structures that before had been precariously balanced were now fallen over, leaving wares discarded or crushed beneath the weight of the beams. Rocks were piled from where they'd been shaken loose from the ceiling, and they must've fallen at least fifty meters.

What stood out the most was the Enforcers meandering around.

Enforcers. Their entire purpose was to, well, _enforce_. Anytime in which the Guild believed there could be a potential breach of monsters into the populace, or a influx of criminal activity, they were deployed. I wasn't aware of their standards for hiring, or their quality as adventurers, but if they were Guild employed they must be at least somewhat competent.

Their presence isn't quite necessary this far up, but I felt that it was safe to assume that the Enforcers would set up a temporary base in the ruins here, before deploying and rescuing anyone stranded further down.

Normally, rescue missions would be designated to other teams, as _Dispatch Quests_ , but for something of this scale? It would have to be done quickly and effectively… If all went well, the Enforcers should be able to have the bottom of Babel's Stairwell up and running again.

Ignoring them for the most part, the two of us ascended the partially debris ridden staircase, each of us making quick strides, hers being quicker to keep up with my longer steps. Upon reaching the top, I was partially surprised to see that the landing for the bottom floor of the tower was fairly quiet.

But I suppose there was no real reason for it to be loud was there.

Lefiya and I exited the building, the two of us side by side, and despite the chilliness of the night I felt warmth against my neck, in that tingling sensation… Autonomous synapse meridian response, if I recalled correctly? It crawled across my back in the same way the heat from my falna did when it was updated.

It almost felt like there was a unseen pair of eyes on me… And they were burning.

Shaking my head I cast it aside, the odds I was about to be murdered was low. There seemed to be no real above ground damage, other than maybe a few broken windows which would be repaired within the week. Looking to Lefiya, I nodded. "You can go home, I'm going to speak with the Guild, and see if I need to make a report."

With that she left, and I finally gained some respite from the questioning elf.

Making my way to the Pantheon quickly, I arrived within ten minutes to the permanently on lights, and the workplace of my advisor, though I doubted she would be awake at the time. I was inside and waiting moments later, because it appears that though the lights are on, nobody seemed home.

"Max?" Came from behind causing a sharp turn before I raised an eyebrow.

"What're you doing here so late at night Eina?" I said, knowing very well that that same question could and would be turned back to me.

"The same could be said of yourself couldn't it?" She replied, looking at me sleepily from behind her glasses. If I had to hazard a guess, I would have to say that she was on call covering for someone else on short notice.

"Here to exchange some stones, and make a report on the situation down in the Dungeon." She waved me on after I said the second half of my sentence.

"Already the Guild has more than enough people here giving reports, the Dungeon after all is busy every minute of every day." She said, clearly a bit exasperated that I was wasting her time. Unfortunately, she was essentially a public servant, and I was entitled to her service.

Or at least, that's how I'd think of it.

"Well that's perfectly alright then. May I exchange the stones while I'm here? Looks like this'll save us both a bit of time." I said, already moving in such a way as to arrive at the booth in seconds.

Nodding, with a bit of a sigh I noticed, Eina made her way back behind the counter before unlocking the service booth.

"So, if you're here, where's everyone else?" I noted with a bit of curiosity.

"Taking down reports." She said sourly. I must admit, while writing a report wouldn't be too bad, running everything else on your lonesome would be quite the task. Though, that was another good mark towards the experience and skill of my Dungeon Advisor. "I'm just on call."

"Out of curiosity, how'd they get word to you so quick?" There would've had to have been some way for them to communicate quickly, and I highly doubted it was a texting service.

"Advisors and other staff have the option to live in Aristotle Towers, a nearby apartment complex owned by the Guild." The half elf said, leaving me to already start thinking about the subsidized housing they must enjoy. "Though, quite recently, I've considered moving out."

"Why?" Letting the magical stones fall out of my cloth pouch they tinkled in a river of value before coming down, one by one into the tray. Eina closed it with a snap, clacking it shut as though angry at it for some reason.

"So I don't have to be here at three in the morning answering questions like this."

Perhaps this wasn't the best conversation with my Advisor, but it was without a doubt not the worst.

At the bottom of the barrel must've most certainly been our talk about the whole 'Ganesha' incident. Truly, I was a bad liar sometimes, and it had of course been during one of the few moments in which it actually mattered.

Eina had doubted that Ganesha would let someone so recently recruited instantly join another Familia, like I had claimed had happened with me joining the Loki Familia... A little bit of her womanly pressure (read: death glare), and I caved like the coward I was, telling her of my sins, knowing full well she could, but probably wouldn't end my career then and there.

Expectedly, she didn't quite end my career, but the awkward promise that I would follow the rules from that day forwards before we made a blood pact (don't ask) certainly made one of the weeks weird.

Thankfully we were on better terms now, but there was still much to be desired. Hell, I would've even considered asking her out, were I not so lacking in self-confidence! Oh Gods, I was turning into my Earth self.

"Your total comes out to eighty five thousand Valis." My advisor said, opening the tray once more and presenting me with my bounty of several hundred, hundred valis coins. "You're accumulating quite the personal fortune here eh?"

Shrugging I responded. "Yeah, but transfer eighty five percent of it to Lefiya Viridis. She's back in Twilight Manor, and I wouldn't want to cheat her out of money."

"A wise move." Doing the math on a small slip of paper next to her, she separated it and made to slide back the tray before I stopped her with a hand of mine. "You don't want it for walking around cash? There's not a huge amount here."

My share would be around twelve thousand to thirteen thousand valis, which was quite a bit, but not enough to bother carrying around unless I was buying food or something similar to it.

"Please just put it into the account. I'll be back in a week or so to get it all anyways." Seeing the recognition dawn as she nodded, I smiled at Eina. "Speaking of which, do you have anything I'll need for the Loki Familia expedition? I was going to upgrade all my gear to be actually decent once I get my payday from that, but if there's anything I need to buy now, I'd do it gladly."

Her half-elven eyes peered at me through her corrective lenses, finding and mentally labeling any faults with me. Thankfully she wasn't counting the issues with my understanding of emotion however, and only issues with gear.

"Well, I would say if you could afford it just get a new set of clothes, chest piece, sword and shield. Your stuff is starting to look pretty battered, and hasn't been upgraded since you started correct?"

"Correct."

"You should probably just get something of a slightly higher quality, shouldn't cost more than thirty thousand valis." Eina gathered, almost giving me a bit of a laugh. That was essentially nothing, and I'd earned more than enough today to cover that, had I not been so generous to the elf whom I was trying to get on the good side of.

Lefiya after all, was an up and coming mage.

"It seems like I'll do that tomorrow morning before everyone else is up, grab breakfast, and head down." I said before wincing at her smirk. I already knew the point she would make, and was once more reminded at my need for a pocket watch of some kind.

"Tomorrow morning is technically now, Max."

"Later in the morning then. I said good day!" Turning on my heel, I began my escape from the caring, if a bit over-caring advisor of mine.

"And remember-"

"You might be an adventurer but don't be too adventurous! I got it!"

* * *

 **~oOo~ The Empty Thrones ~oOo~**

* * *

 **Note:** As I said earlier, have a very merry Christmas! I hope all of you have holidays filled with cheer and love and comfort. May all of you receive things you grow to be grateful for, and may you all remember to keep kindness in your hearts.

I know for one I will remember you all, and be thankful for the amazing adventures we've been on, and will continue going on, until the end. So now please, leave out some cookies, leave a review, crack open a Pepsi, and get ready to catch Santa Claus.

(PS: Santa Claus is a glutton who breaks countless laws of international border customs, and physics. He is a fiend and simply _must_ be put down.)

 **-DragonManMax**

 **Review Responses:**

 **desdelor97:** Why thank you very much, and have a wonderful new year!

 **ZHsteven:** It's been a while, and I'm sorry for that! Please, have a fantastic Christmas!

 **fall equinox 1:** Well, the law is important! Helps us get on that nice list.

 **PasiveNox:** Thanks! More action will be coming _real_ soon. Things are going to start splitting from canon soon.

 **Jom Ghost:** Ha, no problem. Thank you for the birthday wishes, it was a nice one. This story is going to be long, real long… I only hope it will be as good as I imagined it.

 **Dr Masaki:** Well that's the thing, in _Orario_ , magic _is real and functional_. That makes entirely different scenarios possible. Also, I've been tampering with the idea of an industrial revolution a _lot_ more than you might think, but in the end that idea just won't work on such a large scale.

 **LegancyZ:** Thank you very much Connor from Cyberl- Legancy Z.

 **SamMason666:** Thanks! We're climbing up the list for most followed… The titans won't be brought down, but we're popular. Since this story went up, there's been 4-5 more SI fics related to this Fandom… I've noticed. Your words mean a lot, I truly love this story.

 **JustAddMilk:** Does this writing feel different to you? I like this better. Here's a new chapter to read and reread.

 **western:** While I may not feel the need for RWBY writing, I play this mobile game daily, and am absolutely immersed in the world. The author of DanMachi is a genius, and this story _will_ always be continued, however long in between updates it is.

So long and thanks for all the fish!


	5. Chapter 5

**~"I do not own DanMachi, nor do I plan to own DanMachi in the** _ **near**_ **future."~**

 **~The font 'Georgia' is recommended, for your viewing pleasure.~**

 **Note:** Can we talk about what a rework needs? Normally I'm fine with it, but when I get a review for Chapter 5 on a story with only 4 Chapters as of that review, you kind of wonder. It works as a platform, but could use some more font presentation choices, customization, and other improvements. Like AO3.

Moving on...

Recently, I've moved back to feeling real good when I write things, and I know that I'm generally quite capable a writer (by standards), yet I still need to get my previous levels of confidence back. And try as I might, I just can't get my spice for RWBY back. I'll get there eventually, but I don't know how soon.

* * *

 **The Empty Thrones**

 **Chapter 5**

* * *

I had personally made it a point to carve out a decent enough section of time every day to write in one of my journals. Whether it be the events of the day, or me just filling out my personal monster compendium, or a lame attempt at mapping an ever changing landscape, I would write down _something_.

Today was a day in which I recorded just about all of that.

Our expedition was officially just beginning the second day, but already there was enough to fill multiple volumes with my observations. One such observation was the changing stone of the Dungeon, which went from a light blue colour on the 1st-4th floors, to a faded green colour on the 5th-7th floors, and finally came to a brown on the 8th and 9th floors.

However, that was only the beginning.

Where it got _really_ interesting, was the 10th-12th floors. Despite the lack of light, there was plants growing. It wasn't impossible for plants to grow underground normally, but to have large underground rooms and plains of white grass was certainly an oddity. The small saplings which appeared every day too, were strange. They mimicked real saplings from the overworld, but were off in some ways in grain, texture, and length.

But what was most amazing, was the mist.

Great swaths of fog appeared on those same, white-grassed plains, increasing in density the further you go down. Either something was causing the water to warm up and evaporate, or it just _appeared_. Both of which were unlikely, hundreds of feet underground.

Now -this was just a theory- I believed a giant dragon was heating the ground in the morning.

Lastly, the less interesting, but no less impressive Cave Labyrinth which marked the beginning of the Middle Floors. The entrance to the 13th Floor was known as _The First Line_ , like the wide hallway entrance to the 1st Floor was known as _The Beginning Road_.

When the Dungeon sprawled like it did within the Cave Labyrinth, it was difficult to know which floor you were on, but caves soon turned into great massive bedrock caverns with huge vertical holes. I knew from my otherworldly knowledge that Bell & Company(TM) were destined to use those same holes to traverse all the way down to our current floor, the 17th.

All of these ideas and observations went in my notebook labeled ' _Floors'_ , with space left for observations on monsters, or for neat little secrets I found during my adventures. While I was sure Historians were doing this job for me, there was nothing like a primary source.

Finishing my remarks on orcs, armored creatures, insects, impossible beings, animals on steroids, and killer plants, I snapped the book shut before placing it back in the smaller, personal bag I used for my own items and carried with me.

Getting up with a creak, I capped the ink before hustling to the entrance of my tent and lifting up the flap. Ducking out, I surveyed the protectable room our large expedition party was using. My vision was limited by the small walkways between tents, but after a short walk I was in the center of it all.

And what a center it was.

Some stew was being ladled out from a pot in the cooking tent, smelling delicious to all occupants of the now quite large line. To the left was the Goibniu Familia tents, and several noises of equipment maintenance rang out, and would likely be going long into the 'night'.

While I would personally prefer the Hephaestus or Vulcan Familia to do maintenance on our equipment, Loki's Familia had a contract with Goibniu, and thus for expeditions had to use them. There were upsides, but I was always a real sucker for Roman & Greek Gods.

(Hephaestus' portrayal in DanMachi specifically. Red head? Nice.)

Thankfully I'd already eaten, and wouldn't need to wait in that line. Not again at least. Turning to the left from the center, I made my way quickly towards the Commander's Tents, those used for the higher ups in the Loki Familia, Goibniu Familia, and whomever was here to supervise.

After seeing the tents from up close, I was truly filled with a desire to work my way up the ranks in order to become a commander. The tents themselves were hardly like a luxury tent from Earth, but they were nicer than mine in Orario.

Passing by Finn's tent, I considered going to him instead before changing my mind. Out of the top three Loki Familia commanders, he was the one I was the least close to. That wasn't intentional, and it wasn't because Finn himself was not a good commander, but simply because we didn't interact, and had little in common.

Gareth's tent was nearby, and I could hear him laughing even beyond the cloth walls of the place. He laughed, but it wasn't a common occurrence, and I smiled upon hearing it. Whoever was in there with him was doing a good thing.

Sometimes the world could use more laughter.

Arriving at my destination and spying the flap open, I glanced into the doorway to ensure she was there before heading into the little abode. Looking up from her reading, Riveria blinked a few times before greeting me.

"Good evening Max." Placing the book face down on the small flat sleeping bag she was currently sat on top of, she rubbed her eyes before looking at me. "Do you need anything from me? Or are you just here to say goodnight?"

"Out of curiosity, does anybody _actually_ come by just to say goodnight?"

The green haired elf thought for a moment before shaking her head. "No."

"Well, anyways, that's not why I'm here." I looked down at her from my standing position before glancing at a small cushion on the ground next to her sleeping bag. Noticing my non-verbal question of whether I could be seated, she gestured to it with one hand.

Glancing once more at Riveria, I took in her looks. Yes, I know I shouldn't let my mind get away from me, but sometimes I couldn't help myself. Her high cheekbones, the quiet elegance about her which only made her all the more interesting. She also happened to be one of the few people in this world that was near my height, standing at five feet seven inches, to my perfectly average five foot eight.

She wore a nightgown that hid what I knew was a slim figure, and suited her nicely. I hadn't changed into my sleepwear yet, but judging by Riveria's lamp, book, and nightwear, I would say she was doing a bit of reading before bed.

"Riveria, I feel like I've plateaued a bit."

That caused an eyebrow to be raised, and I decided to let her rebuke my statement. There's a time and place to just push your point relentlessly, regardless of what they do to try stopping you, and this was most certainly not one of those moments.

"What I mean to say, rather, is that I feel a bit limited by the restrictions placed upon me by my adventurer type." I said, rephrasing it in such a way as to make more sense. "I don't dislike being a Supporter, no it's nothing like that…"

"Max, when you say you feel limited, what do you mean by that?" She asked, and it was a more than valid question. There were multiple ways someone can be limited, whether it's self enforced or not. "Because I can assure you, your career is in no long term jeopardy just because you now serve your fellow adventurers as a Supporter."

I knew that, but that wasn't why I was here.

"I-" There was another pause for a moment as I forgot and proceeded to remember what I had prepared. "I have been keeping close track of my stat growth since the beginning of my adventuring, and they have begun to slow down in their exponential growth."

Her legs crossed, as mine already were. 'Criss cross applesauce' and whatnot had always stuck with me to a deep level, and I wasn't entirely sure why. "That's not entirely unusual Max, in fact almost _all_ adventurers get to humps in which their growth slows. That's simply how falna work. We don't know _why_ they work that way, but whatever ancient way that the gods created them, they made this happen for a reason."

"But you see Riveria, I think that I've found _why_ falna slow down, and it makes sense. Hell, I'm sure you've heard of a theory similar to it before." I continued, twitching my fingers together for a second before looking her in the eyes.

"You have now?"

"Okay, so think about it: originally when you're adventuring, let's say your stats were to start out near fifty or so, okay? That's not super strong, but instead, is just enough to _really_ start being able to fight back."

"I'm following, yes."

"Great. Now, as you go in alone at the beginning, your stats _need_ to get higher. Our falna are gifts from the gods right? The gods gave us these as a gift, the last drops of their power, in order to let us fight in the Dungeon, and so, the falna _wants_ to keep us alive."

"And once the falna is given to us, it is clear of outside influence, and thus, adaptable?"

Riveria was great in the way she could think for herself. Had someone else been talking with me, they _could_ get what I was attempting to say, but I am sure that it would've taken a bit longer, but even then she wasn't _quite_ correct.

"Yeah, you're close but not quite there. The falna is… Not _quite_ _**alive**_ but the falna seems to understand that in order for itself to survive, we too must survive. So, say I needed to stop something from killing me, but my agility stat is just _that_ much to low." My fingers stayed just an inch away as I said that. "My falna would make the exception, and consider my powers _greater_ than they were a mere moment ago. Essentially, your stats go _up_ depending on what you _need_ as well as what you _train_."

"So, your stats raise by fighting things through use of those stats, as well as through your _need_ to be better?" Riveria said, now genuinely intrigued at what I was proposing. I'd done research, and it was a theory that hadn't been tested, because quantifying the changes _during_ combat was impossible.

"That seems possible, and I believe I understand what you mean when you say you feel 'limited'." She continued in my brief lull into thought, before she nodded. "You feel like as a Supporter you are unable to push your limits, and thus are reaching the natural threshold for grinding stats alone at this skill level."

"Well, there we have it eh? Yes, Riveria." Looking at her, my lips pursed for a second. "I feel like unless I am allowed to enter the Dungeon on my own, to go and _truly_ push myself until my limits strain, and get pushed back, my climb to the second level will be very slow."

Here there was a minute of silence as we both thought.

I thought of what she would say about my proposal, while she was thinking about what she would tell me in response. My mind ran with the possibilities of her answer, and hers ran with how she _should_ answer.

Personally, I hated that part of myself as much as I loved it. My overthinking led to me finding ways out of problems, as well as solutions some others may miss... While at the same time, my overthinking led to hesitation, which led to self-destructive behavior.

Everything sometimes seemed like a dilemma because of it.

"You know, even if you _were_ to essentially be let 'off the reins' so to speak, people don't just level up in a year Max. Sure, someone like Ais could do it, and she currently holds the record, but even then her ascent took years." Riveria said, finally continuing our conversation.

"But did she know that falna work in the way I'm proposing they might?" My eyebrow raised now, and I looked at her silence. "I _need_ to push past, break my limits. I'm not wanting to level up instantly, I would just like to go _faster_."

She sighed, pushing two fingers to her nose.

"Honestly, the worst part of this is the fact that I can see how this actually makes sense." Her eyes locked back onto mine. "It explains the amazing feats that allow for people to level up. Think about it for a moment Max: Your propose that with _need_ your stats are raised… Well, if you were to be in the _greatest_ need of your life, something _nearly_ impossible, a situation that your falna can't push your stats up to-to save you from…"

"Something just out of reach, under the correct conditions, could positively alter your stats to the point they increase in entire magnitudes." I said, all of it falling into place. "Magnitudes, or rather, levels."

With that Riveria nodded, and I nodded too.

Unfortunately there wasn't a way to confirm our theory, but it seemed plausible enough to work.

"If you'd like to Max I think that _yes_... When you and I return to the Dungeon City, we will discuss things with Loki, and have you officially moved from Supporter to Explorer." Riveria said with a small smile towards me, that suddenly had me smiling back.

"Thank you very much, Riveria. I can assure you that I will not let Loki or especially you down."

"Especially me?"

"Hey, you're the only reason this is possible Riveria. You helped to allow me into the Familia in the first place, and now are helping me to achieve my dreams too. There's nothing wrong with me wanting to repay you for that." I said, and that had her looking at me once more.

"I suppose you're not wrong."

"Oh Riveria. When will all of you learn: I am never wrong." She was about to speak up against me before I continued. "Except for when of course I am, but we don't talk about those instances."

At that she let out a little laugh. It was good that I was able to have such generally easy friendships despite my short time here. While sure, we were not the closest of friends, was it really a good idea to have close friends in a city in which people drop like flies?

"Now, it's probably best you get to bed. Tomorrow morning we're fighting the Goliath, and for that you will need your strength." She said, reaching to and opening the book she had placed by her side earlier. "It is your first time after all."

"Well, he'll hopefully be gentle."

Getting up and leaving as a puzzled look came about her face, I inwardly cursed myself. Why would I do this? Did I really like being strange _that_ much? Opening the tent flap and slipping out, I returned to my shared tent, and seeing Lefiya already snoozing in there, went to my own bag before falling into a deep, slightly-uncomfortable sleep.

* * *

 **~oOo~ The Empty Thrones ~oOo~**

* * *

Everyone in the camp was bustling, and to rip from a song by 'Mother Mother': Everything is happening. People were moving this way and that, making their final preparations for the upcoming battle. Thankfully I'd had everything sorted out the night before and simply stood by an entrance, watching.

People watching was underrated sometimes.

"Good morning Max!" Lefiya said, awfully chipper this morning despite the upcoming terrifying battle of life and death we would be facing. It got on my nerves just a bit that someone so much smaller and younger than myself could be so comfortable.

A testament to her own confidence in her power, and ability to survive.

"You ready for today? I didn't see you in the tent this morning, and figured you went to do some other stuff." She said, leaning against the same Dungeon wall I leant against. "Getting your gear repaired or blade sharpened or something."

"Can we ever really be ready for something like this? At the very least, I must admit that the Dungeon is a bit outside my comfort zone." My comfort zone was in my chair at home, clacking away on my keyboard.

"Of course we can!" Lefiya said with a huff of pride which I swear sent some anime-like puffs of air out of her mouth. "Part of being a good mage is preparation! Riveria told me so herself, and she's the best mage around."

That part at the very least was true. I couldn't think of one mage more adept with magic than Riveria, and the fact that she was a semi-teacher to me meant alot. People tend to indeed learn much from those they're around.

"I suppose you're right." I said, looking over to her. "Care to fill me in on how the fighting normally goes? From what I can understand there's a difference between what we're doing here, and what happens when it's just a regular team of adventurers."

"Well I _would_ be happy to fill you in…" She started, and I threw mental curses at the girl. Lefiya would want something in return. Something to boost her ego perhaps? I knew she needed all the confidence she could get. ".. If! You tell me of your homeland."

"You want to hear about where I came from?" I asked, admittedly surprised. "There's not a whole lot to say. Not much that people would understand or relate to at the very least."

Lefiya looked at me, curious. "Often times we're all talking and when it comes to your homeland, you just get all quiet. I know you're from very far away, but that's pretty much it."

She had a point there.

"Maybe later tonight, when we've made camp, I'll tell you of the mystical place called Canada." Already I was formulating a list of things which I would be able to tell them about. Healthcare was off the table, as was technology and politics. Really, all that was left was nature, and perhaps our cities.

I was saved by any more questions by Tione and Tiona showing up. If you have trouble remember who's who, remember that Tion _a_ is the flat one, you can remember by thinking her name ends with 'a' and she is an 'a' cup. Tion _e_ is of course the larger chested one, think 'e' for 'e' cup.

"Good morning you too. Glad to see you both getting along." Tione said, looking us both up and down. There was certainly nothing special about my looks that morning, so I'm sure she considered that a waste of time.

"We were never at each other's throats, Tione. Just had a rocky start."

That much was true. Upon meeting her, I instantly disliked Lefiya. But, my near constant exposure to her while I acted as her supporter led to a growing sense of camaraderie, and eventually friendship during my time here.

"Yeah!" Lefiya squeaked in. Sometimes I regretted that friendship, but a good portion of the time she wasn't that bad. If annoying at times.

"Anyways, are you guys prepared for today? The Goliath is only the first of many challengers we'll meet on the way down today… And I think Finn will ride us pretty _hard_." Tiona said nudging her older sister with an elbow.

How lewd.

It was clear to all but the man itself it appears that Tione had a large crush on Finn. Thus, it was somewhat of a running joke in the group that we should poke at her at any given opportunity. Really, it was good that Tione never did anything but sigh when we brought it up.

Not everyone would be so accommodating to their friends teasing.

"Ready as can be, I guess. How about you Tiona, Tione? Your weapons ready?" They were the hardest hitters in terms of raw physical damage output in the entire group.

Tiona working with her double bladed adamantine sword turned her into a proper beast of the battlefield. Anything that stood in her way was destroyed by her epic technique and skill, and even if she were to lose the weapon, her fists would do more than enough damage.

Meanwhile, Tione herself was probably the even scarier fighter of the two. Like an amazoness princess she launched herself across the battlefield, twirling with her crimson kukri, slicing and dicing anything in her way. The weapons were nigh indestructible from physical means, and even if not she always carried two spares in her bags.

Each of the amazons was level five, and scary as hell.

"I would say we're pretty ready!" Tiona said happily, brandishing Urga. Due to its sheer size, the only place it could be holstered was on her back, and even then it was dangerous. Perhaps the weapon was the reason she kept her hair short.

"But really, where's Finn? Normally he's one of the first one's at the agreed to meeting spot, if he's not already early." Tione said, now sounding increasingly worried, and I wondered what it must be like caring about someone that much.

"Yes, but we also didn't exactly agree to meet here, and it's still early now isn't it?" I said, looking back towards the small clearing within the campgrounds. "I'm sure he'll show up."

"Ah Max. You're never wrong except for when you are." Riveria came from the camp a minute later, insulting me with her first words. It hurt my feelings, but they were fine a second later. "Finn in fact will not be joining us today. He has decided it will be a good team exercise if he is not there, and if we have to work together more to take down the Goliath."

I hate to admit it, but that made sense. Finn was a scary man when battling, but technically speaking his position was in administration and he wasn't actually needed for any of the battles. While I was sure that there was more to it than what we were being told, it could very well be that he just wanted to sleep in and have a bit of a lazy morning.

Damn prum. Making me consider a life in administration.

"He also told me that Max should take this." My eyebrows perked in surprise as my thoughts were interrupted. Riveria held out her hand to me, holding a coil of rope. "It's called 'rope-thorn'. A type of rope with thorns."

Taking it from her hands, I examined it. "I never would've guessed given the name."

Rolling her eyes at me as I further inspected the rope-thorn, Riveria turned to the rest of the group. "Finn feels as though it is more efficient if some people go kill the Goliath now, while the preparations continue to move the camp, as that way we will not have downtime."

"Won't the additional monsters spawned by the fight charge the camp?"

Lefiya for once made a good point, but I instantly assumed that the camp would be defended. After all, there's only two entrances to this room to defend, and it's a classic defense situation in which the enemy will be funneled into the defenders.

Easy.

"Everything related to that is already taken care of. The fighting will be left up to everyone currently here, as well as Raul Nord, and Ais, both of which are just finishing breakfast." Riveria said, confirming that yes, I would in fact be fighting.

In my minds eye, I removed everyone here from the list of people in the Loki Familia I knew. Assuming everyone left over would be in defense, that left Anakitty, Alicia, Narvi, Bete, and Gareth to defend the camp.

That was most certainly a decent line up.

Attacking then would be Tione, and Tiona, on physical damage, with Lefiya and Riveria doing magical support. Odds are good Raul and I will be on roaming support, while Ais Wallenstein was left to her own devices likely thanks to her insane mobility.

From what I could recall, we were a few bodies short of what it took to defeat the Goliath originally, but our level advantage and knowledge should make the battle about the same in terms of overall difficult.

Of course, that difficulty was: high, but not painfully so.

"Great. Now what in the name of Loki am I supposed to do with this?

* * *

 **~oOo~ The Empty Thrones ~oOo~**

* * *

"EXPLAIN TO ME AGAIN - " Gasping, I jumped left avoiding a huge falling boulder of the Wall of Grief. " - WHOSE BRIGHT FUCKING IDEA IT WAS TO RUN IN!?"

Naturally my self-complimented wit went unanswered and I was left avoiding falling bits of debris coming from the giant breaking through its crystal cage. I spotted a huge gray hand burst through the top of the glowing crystal wall to my left, sending sparkling dust into the air in a terrifying yet beautiful display.

Quickly, everyone else had outpaced me. Raul was already splitting _towards_ the wall, his strides propelling him forwards faster than my feet could take me, not because of size or skill, but pure stats. Ahead of me, Tiona unslung her blade and leapt forwards, jumping off a piece of rubble and towards the wall.

Loki's Familia members were fucking insane... Which I suppose includes me too.

Sprinting necessarily fast, I ran, avoiding rubble until I stood in my assigned position, knees shaking before my nerves steeled. But even as my nerves steeled, my hand did not, and shook, at the great behemoth of a beast I witnessed crawl forth from a crystal cocoon.

The Goliath terrified me.

I couldn't believe that people did this on a regular basis. I was sure that they too felt the great pumping of adrenaline through their veins, and some of them craved it, but surely some too must be feeling what I was. The deep set fear of our humanoid bodies telling us that the Goliath was an unnatural beast: something that should not exist, something that we should run from.

Yet, I stood my ground, in the middle of the long room, which quickly widened due to the falling of the wall between the two halves. Shattering in a great earsplitting crack, it collapsed into a wave of rubble and dust, and my ears rang, while my eyes ducked behind my shield.

And then, I took the agro of the huge beast, and became the target.

Rippling with muscle, the Goliath stood, legs still encased in hills of what seemed to be much larger versions of the crystal fueling and provided by dead monsters. White hair was atop a gray head, and it shook briefly in the wind, as the gigantic creature swung its arms around, before opening its mouth, as well as it's eyes.

Crimson red of a monster's tongue met me, and I was greeted with a haunting noise, before a huge wave of sound came flying towards me. Thankfully this was not my first video game, and I knew how to read a sign of charging attack, otherwise I could very well be brained against a wall.

Speeding forwards, I glanced right at Tiona.

Tiona leapt upwards, speeding towards the Goliath in a spin, slinging her blade off her back and downwards. Crushing the double bladed weapon into the hills encasing the Goliath's feet, she shattered it with one huge crack, before landing and jumping upwards again, twirling her sword into the underside of the Goliath's arm.

A huge roar of pain was let go as the twelve-meter monster unleashed another sonic blast into the ceiling. Fixing it's blood-red eyes back onto me, for some reason processing me to be the sole reason for it's pain, it broke free from the cracked and shattered hill, taking a huge lunge forwards on one leg, swatting the ground in front of it, and thus, in front of me.

Great.

Jumping to the left, I avoided the tiny rupture appearing from the impact, while Tiona landed and turned, billowing forwards towards the spine of the Goliath. Sliding on his own path, Raul turned on one knee, bow somehow already in hand, before unleashing a salvo of arrows.

Whistling through the air they landed in the Goliath's arm, while Tiona's hits landed, knocking the Goliath over slightly, before he was caught by the leg still trapped in the hill. Turning down, the Goliath screamed, sonic boom blasting the pile apart, sending shrapnel in each direction.

Straightening, the Goliath turned with inhuman speed, backslapping Tiona with a huge impact, before crouching and jumping through the air. Raul shot a few more arrows before getting up and sprinting straight under the leaping Goliath, sliding out of the landing zone while Tione jumped in from the left field.

"Hiyah!" Kicking into the chest of the just landed, and slightly shocked Goliath, the pure physical power behind her kick knocked him back. Like the amazoness she was, she then tore into it, using her double kukri to tear bits of flesh and meat off the chest, sending a mist of blood spraying off the front side of him.

"Prepping rope-thorn!"

Finishing my run, I reached to the coil of rope thorn at my side, giving it slack before twirling the grapple at an ever increasing pace. Jumping back off the monster, the force left him reeling, and Raul now sent more and more arrows into its back, some pinging off the hardened back side of the Goliath, before impaling into a dense area next to the exposed shoulder blade.

As Tione flew one way, Tiona flew the other towards the thing while he turned to launch a sonic blast at Raul. Taking the hit and flying back, he rolled through the air, armor vibrating and doing things it simply should not have been.

"Agh!"

Waiting for Tiona to drive her blade right into the chest of the Goliath, I watched it stumble back, bleeding heavily before looking downwards and opening its mouth to prepare another shout.

"Throwing the grapple!"

Letting the grapple of rope-thorn fly, I prayed it would get there in time. Digging my heels in, I observed it hook into the side of the Goliath's mouth, and pulled as hard as I could, tearing the grapple nice and deep into its cheek, letting blood spill out from the flesh and into the Giant's mouth.

Shouting, the Goliath turned down towards Tiona anyways and let loose a bloody sonic boom, covering the girl in it's fluid before she herself screamed. Rushing to the right, I let the thorns of the rope wrap around the back of the Goliath's head, and threw the weighted end of the rope with all the might I could, letting it twirl around the Goliath once, before being caught by now recovered Nord.

He pulled then, with his much greater strength, unbalancing the Goliath before Tione flew in once more, giving a long shallow cut along the already bloodied masterpiece of her previous work on his chest. Tiona shook and squirmed, before finally falling back to the ground. Landing and skidding to a stop, Tione flew like nothing but a blur to my eyes reaching for and grabbing onto Tiona's outstretched hand. Pulling her from the ground they went flying together, and I observed Raul in the tug of war against the Goliath.

While they recouped and the rope-thorn dug into the flesh of the Goliath, I charged towards Raul, who was slowly being moved. Despite the flesh tearing pain being inflicted, the Goliath still turned and righted, before steam came rushing from the cuts beneath the rope, and poured from the chest-wounds.

It was healing itself.

Coming up next to Raul, I grabbed onto the edge of the rope. Despite his strength, were it not for the thorns, he would've been yanked on his feet. Looking at him, I nodded at the beast. "Go get em, I got the rope."

Not waiting another second, Raul made forwards converging on the Goliath with Tione and Tiona, the three of them acting as a dream team as I myself kept him pinned. It was a responsibility I wasn't sure I was ready to bear, but I didn't have the damage output or the speed to be helpful in any other way.

An unfortunate fact.

Pulling harder, I yanked the Goliath by his cheek until he stumbled, from the leverage. Like pulling a bull by the horns, I kept him stable before the three of them began the assault. In a triangle fashion, they bounced from corner to corner, slicing the shins and body avoiding the rope, doing damage faster than the beast could heal, and I yanked, spinning the Goliath, before the grapple ripped out of it's cheek.

Burning and tearing a long huge bloody line against the body of the Goliath, the rope's thorns left an opening for the Goliath as he grabbed and pulled, taking me with it. Letting go of the rope didn't stop my momentum, but gave me a chance to take out my shield as I flew towards it.

Crashing into the fist ahead of me, my shield burst apart, the wood splintering like a toothpick as the gray skin came into contact with my chest. My armor impacted my padding, before driving further, and sending me flying backwards. I felt my head snap back, whiplash arising, before I tumbled through the air.

"Max!" Someone, everyone, anyone screamed as I went flying. My head spun, and spots blossomed in my vision, before I briefly managed to regain enough control of my limbs and tuck my arms to my chest.

Landing on my side and bouncing, before rolling, the scabbard of my blade jabbed my ribs time after time, before I came to a stop, groaning and moaning in pain. It felt like my body was on fire, the tingling sensation coursing through my nerves making me feel like something was very, terribly wrong.

" _Assemble, breath of land - my name is ALF!"_

I heard a thunderous crack that seemed to come from inside me, and something different from the burning sensation blossomed in my chest. I writhed on the ground, as my skin crawled and my hairs stood on end. My toes wiggled, and I managed to gasp another breath before getting up.

Riveria just saved my life.

Unbuckling my belt I tore my blade from my scabbard before tossing the scabbard away and looking back to the battle. Looking upwards towards the glittering ceiling, I took a moment before continuing. Then, a singular thought occurred to me.

Where was Ais?

There was a rush from wind, and then I knew. Right beside me. "You alright?"

Previous to this moment I had had very few interactions with the Sword Princess. An esteemed record holder like her was part of the Loki Familia, and shouldn't have been different from me talking to Riveria, yet I had something in my mind always telling me to avoid her.

Alas, here we were, I suppose meeting for the first time, despite the circumstances.

"I'm fine. You just go." Clutching my ribs a second after she burst away with the only type of magic she could use, the wind magic she was renowned for, I had wanted to ensure she would have not a single distraction for what was to come.

Now, I was prepared to be witness to it.

Dodging back from the Goliath, the amazoness sisters and Raul vacated the premises, as Ais carried herself upwards impossibly fast on burst of green wind, before suspending herself in the air. Shouting, the Goliath spewed another blood filled sonic blast at her, before both Lefiya and Riveria launched their attacks.

" _Falling like rain burn away the savages!"_

Like liquid fire, the huge explosion rolled out from above the Goliath, burning orange heat and energy coming into its head, blowing it to smithereens, leaving a huge roll of steam as it tried in vain to heal itself. A huge amount of dust kicked up, rolling it's way towards us, the crystal substance making me cough before Riveria herself finished.

" _Blizzard, the severe three winters - my name is ALF!"_

Ice blossomed forwards from the Goliath's chest, creeping like frost making wind swirls along it's skin, before a blinding bright white shone forth, and the ice magic strong enough to freeze time was activated, in a great gust of impossibly icy wind, and I felt my skin tingle with that same sense of Canadian-cold.

And so was seen, the reason it was said to stop time.

The dust had settled, and the blinding light was calm. A thin film of frost and ice had accumulated on the entire, massive floor of the arena-like room, drawing moisture from the air to form, while fog rose from some parts of the room. Huge, glacial spears of ice came down from the ceiling onto the Goliath, acting as hammers driven by gravity, falling onto the body, and shattering, sending snowy slush to explode onto the surrounding ground.

Yet despite all this, it was peacefully quiet.

Everything in this singular moment in time had stopped. The cold brought me back to moments from my childhood, watching the snow, and the quiet let every sound be heard, breaths echoing through the chamber.

Finally, Ais ended it.

Powerful as a force of nature, Ais flew forwards, her wind magic propelling her faster than anyone with even the highest agility status would be envious of. From her high hight, she descended like an angel of battle, leaving the princess title behind before driving forwards, her blade: Desperate, crashing into the ice.

Shattering, the Goliath was killed.

I dropped to my knees, heaving. I was in pain all over, my back, ribs, and chest feeling as though I'd been hit by a train and a bus at once. Was all this pain really worth it as a trade off to being alive still? I wasn't entirely sure, but the moment the adrenaline stopped being produced, and I was brought back to the moment, everything was felt again.

Death looked better and better every moment this went on, yet still I got up and looked towards Riveria, only to not see her there. Instead, her voice came from behind, and I twisted, perhaps just a bit too fast.

"You know, despite the fact that you've only just met, Ais cares for you." Riveria said, and I briefly wondered why before she explained. "There, her Avenger skill activated. In moments of anger it allows her to do a huge amount of damage extra, demolishing monsters in her path."

"And you're telling me that activated because of me?" That was a surprise to be learning so quick after the battle. "That seems unlikely."

Riveria nodded towards me, uncaring of whether I fully believed or not. "Ais cares about her Familia, and you are apart of that. Even without knowing you, she is willing to save you, and avenge you."

That… Was a bit more understandable.

"Now, are you alright? That was a terrible blow." Riveria said, giving me a once over. I looked to everyone else, as they scrambled towards the now defrosting Goliath body to check for drops. "I did what I could, but there wasn't time to fix everything."

"I'm not sure, but I think I won't die in the next few minutes." Looking around briefly as everyone else continued searching for loot, I spotted my scabbard a ways over. "Now, let's see what loot we can split."

* * *

 **~oOo~ The Empty Thrones ~oOo~**

* * *

"So what're we doing now?" Tiona asked, and for once I had no answer for her. After looting the quickly decaying corpse of the Goliath, which for some reason remained longer than usual before bursting into dust, we'd waited for the rest of the party before advancing towards the Under Resort of Floor 18.

Carefully walking down the slope in the floor, we'd managed not to slip before emerging into the gigantic, light filled cavern. Like a subterranean ecosystem, the Under Resort was impressive in a multitude of ways.

The large crystal ceiling gave light to the place in a way which seemed artificial, yet just real enough to remind me of the overworld. Furthermore, exploding underneath the light in the ground below was a huge forest of shrubs and trees, filled with lesser monsters and springs which would be used to relax, and bathe.

"You, will wash." Riveria said, sounding different than usual due to the fingers shutting her nose closed. "Each one of you smells terrible, and you simply cannot be covered in blood while we traverse deeper."

"Aww!" Tiona said seemingly annoyed at the prospect of bathing, before giving herself a cursory sniff and becoming near green in the face. "Ugh, nevermind. Wow, that is _real_ bad."

Laughing, I myself felt queasy once I noticed the smell. "Makes sense. I mean, Tione and Tiona are covered in Goliath blood, and each others blood, I'm covered in my own blood, and Raul is covered too. All of use are like walking around tomato people."

"Hell, _I_ didn't want to be the one to say it." Having apparently finished sliding down the slope to Floor 18, Bete joined into the conversation. "You all looks stupid as sh- Ow!"

Growling, Bete's hand rushed up to his silvery hair as his eyes narrowed. Riveria looked away innocently before turning back to the group. "Now, if we are done talking, you all head for a bath. Meet in Rivira when you're done."

Rivira was the main town of Under-Resort, nestled between a cliff and a lake. It was nothing impressive, and in fact looked like above-ground slums, yet as one of the very few adventurer-controlled safe zones within the Dungeon, it was immensely important.

Their shops were the last spots to stock up on anything needed, and despite the huge price markup they had good sales. So, if you were willing to take a decline to your quality of life, there was money to be made for setting up a business there.

With that being said, I personally would love to tear down the entire town, and recreate it in a organized, more self-sustainable fashion that would allow for less mark-ups, and a better quality of life.

Making our way down to any of the varying-in-size water pools dispersed throughout the forest, I split off with Raul in an unspoken agreement that we shouldn't be bathing with the girls. No real words were spoken, as the two of us knew of each other, but neither was overly impressed with the other.

Perhaps it was due to the fact that I was an unknown element, and he didn't like that.

Either way, he'd been chilly to me for a large portion of our time together.

Splitting off to the left from him, walking through the forest with my now partially loot-laden bag, I eventually found a pool of crystal clear water, that was oddly bubbling around the rocky edges. Figuring this was as good as it would get, I stripped and after quickly cleaning my clothing and leaving it out to try, entered, washing myself using a bit of soap I'd especially purchased, before climbing out of the (surprisingly) warm water and checking out my clothes.

A small amount of grass was sprouting through the dirt of the forest, making due with what little crystal-sunlight was able to pierce through the branches. It was unbelievably nice in feel, and I felt a bit regretful that I'd spent so long inside back on Earth.

Looking at the ripped clothing and padding that I'd been wearing underneath my armor, I wondered if I had time to stitch it up, before shaking my head. Getting into the now cleaner, but still damp underclothing, I shivered before strapping my armor pieces back to myself.

Slinging my backpack over my shoulder, I headed back in the direction of the way I came, looking for a game trail that could be used to return back to Rivira, the Dungeon town. Eventually finding my way through, I broke into the very small clearing left behind when the forest was harvested for lumber, and spotted Rivira.

From up close it looked like even more of a shit-show.

"Oi!" Perking up, I looked towards Gareth, who was indeed apparently speaking to me. "Max, you look like shit. You alright?"

I looked down at myself. My chest was still sore, and my entire body hurt. Something still didn't feel right with me, but I was sure that was just a side-effect of the rapid breaking, and fixing of my body thanks to Riveria's magic.

"Bruised, bloodied, and was near death, but I'm not about to keel over. Lost my shield though." And in what a spectacular fashion. Just smashing to pieces directly in front of my eyes. I was already planning on getting a new entire set of gear upon our return, and now I just had one more thing to think about and design.

"Well, I'm sure you'll be alright lad." Looking me down, Gareth spied the rips in my clothing. "But you'll have to get some more durable clothing. Can't have you prancing around like Tiona now can we?"

Laughing, I nodded. "That's for sure. Besides, I don't quite have the same physique…"

"That's for sure. I must be honest, you're not exactly a young maiden there Max." Gareth said, before looking down the street at Riveria, where she was idly browsing some wares. "Now, you ready to continue onwards?"

"Yup." I said, feeling better despite my close brush with death. "Only forty two floors to go."

* * *

 **~oOo~ The Empty Thrones ~oOo~**

* * *

 **Note:** So, I still haven't seen Arrow of Orion, but I think it'll be good. Season 2 will be out in Summer 2019, which is sooner than expected, and that's good news for everyone involved with the series. Though, it does mean I have to hustle just a bit, to get one specific, very important piece of this story into place without making things seem awkward.

Honestly, just really love DanMachi. It's nuts, what a wonderful world.

Now, I will be merging some elements from other series into this, but it's only with things I deem plausible within the universe. For example: runes on weapons. We already see those, but I will be changing them just a _tad_.

Anyways, please: leave a review, tell me how I did, give me your thoughts on DanMachi Season 2, drink a Pepsi, and have a wonderful night!

 **Reviews:**

 **LegancyZ:** Yup. But I could've sworn that it was 'Santa Clause' and not 'Claus'.

 **fall equinox 1:** Really, what is it about me that makes me seem so old to all you folks? (And really? Only second favorite?)

 **PasiveNox:** Noice.

 **17konbro:** Thank you!~ I corrected that error, as we discussed.

 **ZHsteven:** Yeah, Panda leaks all my little secrets. (Hopefully none plot-related.) He himself is a bit too busy to write currently, but I really wish he'd write some DanMachi. He'd make it great.

 **dereturd:** Thanks. And yes, it's difficult to get the DanMachi feeling right. I'll get the hang of it eventually, but I truly wish I could instead just beam my thoughts into words rather than properly write.

 **Touhoufanatic:** Someone will know, but it won't be Loki. She's the goddess of trickery after all.

 **StraxyX:** You're welcome!~

 **Atrile:** Thank you very much! I worked hard to improve it. My very first chapter of anything ever was terrible.

 **Xenophos24:** How'd you comment on this chapter before it came out? Anyways, yeah. Sword Oratoria needed to be a bit more Ais focused, and Lefiya could've been shown in a better light. And of course: with no training you die. Even Bell knew this, even Ais, and Lefiya. All of them were trained by someone.

Have an epic evening!

 **-DragonManMax**


	6. Chapter 6

**~"I do not own DanMachi, nor do I plan to own DanMachi in the** _ **near**_ **future."~**

 **~The font 'Cambria' is recommended, for your viewing pleasure.~**

 **Note:** This is chapter two of my upload heavy week. Now, since this story has generally been going on during the hiatus of my other stories, you won't notice much having changed, and this is hardly a grand return. Yet still, I have an announcement:

I am looking for beta readers. Preferably one for each story of mine. So, if you know your stuff with grammar, and would be interested in helping me correct grammar, spelling, pacing, character development, and other things revolving my stories feel free to send me a PM, where we will discuss more privately.

Ugh. Right now I'm finishing a presentation on why a book I personally do not think should be added to the curriculum, _should_ be added to the curriculum. This is literally killing me, guys.

Thanks for reading folks. The end note on this one will be quite small.

* * *

 **The Empty Thrones**

 **Chapter 6**

* * *

Wind flowed around the axe's blade as it sliced through the air. Crashing into the tree's base, it sent splinters and shavings of wood flying before the axe was ripped out once more. Gareth swung once more, with all his might, finally meeting his previous cut in the middle of the trunk, causing the tree to come crashing down, with a mighty 'whoosh' of wind.

Falling trees were unbelievably majestic as they fell through the air.

I'd seen them fall on Earth, but never in person, and never had I been involved with the cutting down of one. While I wasn't giving it a go myself, I felt like a proper lumberjack… Perhaps flannel indeed would be the best way to go for my new adventuring outfit.

But this… This was a true feat.

Generally a quite short, quite green tree at this floor, Ironwood 24 was a valuable resource commonly sought after on the surface for furniture and doors. The fact that it was so commonly harvested here meant that the trees were finally the perfect size to cut down, though cutting it down wasn't overly easy even then.

Unslinging a smaller hatchet we'd brought along from the camp, Gareth and I went to work removing the branches along the trunk. Quickly removing the very few that were forming there, we moved on to finding the best section, before chopping that clean out. Hefting it over his shoulder like it was nothing, Gareth began whistling a little tune as we began the rather arduous trek back to camp.

This Ironwood 24 was worth every ounce of effort that went into collecting it and more.

Named for its properties and the floor it was found on, Ironwood 24 was just as hard, strong, and heat resistant as steel, while at the same time being lighter than iron alternatives. This made it ideal for shields, and certain types of armor… Even some weapons, if that was your 'schtick'.

Locking into step with Gareth, my fingers intertwined on the back of my head as I stretched. A smile lit my lips as the magic stone pouch at my side jingled. The Familia had been giving me more opportunities to grow fighting on the frontlines, and while the battles were tough, they were possible with teamwork.

Honestly, it was nice. As an added bonus to the experience I'd gained, I was allowed to keep the magical stones of the monsters I killed. They figured it was only fair, and I agreed with them. After all, I collected them from the corpses myself, along with those of the monsters killed by the rest of the Familia.

Cresting the top of a hill that had my legs positively burning, Gareth and I overlooked the expansive and beautiful Floor 24. Known as the Large Tree Labyrinth, the floor was covered in massive roots, as well as exotic flora and fauna the likes of which were unseen on the entire rest of the planet. (Probably.)

Strange flowers with orange leaves, and purple stems. Absolutely _gargantuan_ purple trees which reached towards the super high, stone/crystal ceilings, strange pools of water that were more like saliva… Not to mention the monsters that drank from those pools, and were neither plant, nor animal, but instead something in between.

The biology here was crazy.

"Well someone looks to be in a good mood." Gareth said, looking me over as he continued moving through the brush near effortlessly, despite the massive tree trunk on his shoulder. "Not that there's no reason to be - we're nearly halfway to Floor 60."

It was true.

A few hours after the fight with the Goliath, we'd decided to set up camp here, on the 24th Floor. After this brief lunch break, we'd make a huge advance in our speed for the expedition due to the nature of the floors ahead.

"I _am_ in a good mood Gareth. Today was a good day for me: Lots of loot, probably some stat increases coming from today's battles." I shrugged my shoulders. "Once we get back I'll be in pretty good shape, and now that Riveria is backing me on my switch to Adventurer class everything seems to be going my way."

"Mmm, I wish I was back in my prime sometimes. You, you've got your entire career ahead of you." Gareth said, thinking back to a time long ago before continuing. "Were you a dwarf, you'd be coming of age soon, and doing all sorts of tasks for the Elders."

"Gotta ask: What kinds of tasks?" Color me intrigued.

"Oh you know: Fetch this, fetch that… Go kill fifteen whatever. Little 'quests' they'd say taught us how being an Adventurer was like… They weren't quite wrong, but dispatch quests are hardly so easy." Mr Landrock said, looking at me as we continued onwards. So it seems like as a teenager he was essentially just a video game character, finishing all sorts of side quests.

He was right when he said dispatch quests were hardly so easy though. While essentially just glorified sidequests, they required clearing sections of the Dungeon for lower level Adventurers, or collecting super rare items from certain monsters on the lower floors…

Pay for completion was real good, but the stakes were high.

"Well, can't say we quite had stuff like that where I'm from." I said, though my mind turned to some of the sillier things we did as 'challenges' instead. Forever would I hate the concept of Tide Pods. "Though we certainly had our own coming of age rituals."

Getting a driver's license, graduating, etc.

Letting out a accepting noise of agreement to me, Gareth continued our walking and we lapsed into a comfortable silence. Continuing onwards, I spotted a purple hue being cast onto a tree. Following it back to a huge fallen crystal which had left a hole in the foliage above, I took my mind back to the earthquake. We'd been finding pieces like this all over the place, but they were essentially valueless.

Though they did glow a neat purple in darkness, which made for a cool effect in the forests.

"Do you ever wonder about that earthquake, Gareth?" That little part of my mind which couldn't allow for something like that to exist without consequence was scratched. For some reason I couldn't keep it out of my head.

"Not often, no… Though sometimes I think about it, yes." Looking to me over his right shoulder, Gareth pursed his lips for a moment. "I must admit, my Dwarven heritage does not stop me from having the fear that one day the world might swallow us whole."

"Dropping us straight into the Underworld?"

"Aye lad… And who in Hell knows how to get out once you've fallen in? Nobody I'm assuming, which is why we don't have the dead still walking among us." Tilting his bearded head to the side, he closed one eye in a squint before continuing. "Then again, some certain monsters make me question that."

"Monsters like what?"

Giving a deep, rumbling laugh from his chest Gareth's head tilted back and filled the forest with amusement. "Well if I were to tell you that, then that would ruin the surprise… Floor 52 is especially troubling though, I _will_ tell you that much."

If I had to guess, that was a sign there was some crazy, freak of nature too big to exist on Floor 52.

Remaining in a comfortable silence for the final duration of our hike, Gareth and I arrived back at the five tents set up as everyone ate lunch and maintained equipment. Like a 'pit stop' so to speak. Nodding to him as he took the Ironwood 24 to the Goibniu Familia craftsman tent, I split off to grab some stew.

Using my nose to pick up the scent, I eventually obtained a bowl of stew which I ate ravenously. Adventuring took calories like you would not believe. After all, an adventurer's falna must create the energy from somewhere, and where better to do it than the natural fat stores of adventurers?

It's not like we're about to start photo-synthesizing.

Not to mention, that seemed to have that added effect of helping to create muscle mass, and resulted in a more slim, muscular build ideal for an adventurer. As the fat was destroyed, and broken down for energy, your increasing stats and your physical exertion built muscle in its place.

Every day I was closer to figuring out how everyone here was so damn good looking.

An hour ticked by before the rest of the Familia was done, and I spent the time sitting on a log just outside of our small resting point. Just taking in the scenery and thinking for a bit, I became more and more ready to get back to supporting once more, strapping my bag to my shoulders.

The next few floors were going to be super interesting. Coming up just after this one was Floors 25-27, which were of particular interest as they'd merged into one huge super floor. Ultra large and wide, it contained The Great Falls, a structure caused by where the ocean was leaking into the Dungeon.

Four hundred meters wide, the falls were huge by every description. We'd be traversing compact tunnels through the surrounding walls, battling mist, cold, and _moistness_ as well as monsters on the way down, all while trying not to fall out the side of a passageway.

Because of _course_! Why _wouldn't_ the passages be open to the waterfall cavern?

However moving down those floors would be super quick, and the other water related floors just afterwards would undergo a strange draining deeper into the Dungeon, before we'd come up upon the magma-centric floors.

Strange, since surely the draining water would find its way to the magma floors, but hey… What did I know?

I made a few minutes of idle conversation as I waited with Lefiya, before everyone else arrived, and the tents packed up really quick. Once those were done, I patted myself down, making sure I had everything, before a horn sounded from Finn's general direction, and we began on our way again.

Essentially nipping at Lefiya's heels as I walked along, trying to keep up to her quicker, more nervous strides, I did my best to not step on the back of her heel and break her foot. That would be unfortunate, and surely Riveria would chew me out for it.

Like that was the _only_ problem with me breaking her foot.

"Ah!" Nearly jumping out of my skin when a huge hand landed on my shoulder, I bounced and turned, one hand flipping down to my scabbard and another ready to deflect whatever bite was incoming, I came face to face with a very amused Gareth.

Having turned due to my outburst, now the rest of the group looked at me, and had a good laugh at my expense before continuing their walking. Meanwhile, Gareth locked into my pace with me as we continued down the gradual slope to The Great Falls.

"Not quite sure what that was about, but here it is." Presenting me with the fruit of his labor, of our labor, a beautiful looking shield hung from his hand. Truly, it was a masterwork, and considering the timeframe of which they'd had to put it together, the craftsmen of the Goibniu Familia had done a magnificent job.

"Colour me _impressed_." Despite the potential sarcastic tone, I truly was impressed. "I mean, really, _wow_ , Gareth. You lads did some amazing work on it."

Dwarven features tightening into a grimace for a second, Gareth squinted at it, and me as I slung it onto my left arm. "Unfortunately we won't have time to carve designs into the front until we return to the surface, but for now you've got a super functional shield my friend."

Since getting mine absolutely _fucked_ by the Goliath, I'd gone about seeking a replacement.

Hence, the Ironwood 24. Being the cheap bastard I was, I figured collecting it here would be the most practical thing. This way I'd have one in a timely manner and still be able to participate, while getting one of much higher quality than I'd normally be able to afford on the surface.

Taking the huge log of Ironwood 24 we'd harvested to the craftsmen, Gareth had enough wood secured for the shield, before having the rest ordered to be properly cut and stored for sale upon our return to the surface.

And, using some Dungeon Sap native to this Floor which was a common construction material for craftsmen in Orario, they essentially glued together the two, single inch thick pieces together. Finally, sanding the corners, edges, and sides using one of their development skills, they applied a final wood varnish to bring out the real quality before they were finished.

It was gorgeous. Finally I had a piece of gear to call my own. It may be unfinished, but it was mine.

"I'll be sure to cherish this always." Taking it from him, I lined up my hand with the glove-like leather strap harness which would keep the shield attached to me. It had enough give to be shifted ever so slightly, while being in place enough to block perfectly.

"Well lad, it's up to _you_ to maintain it, upgrade it, and give it a name."

"Upgrade it? Honestly I'm not sure how I'd go about doing that." That much was true: Putting a metal skin over the top would make it look strange, and I wasn't overly creative at this specific moment on how to improve the shield. "Seems pretty perfect as it is."

"You could pop a metal skin on there, or change the wood types when you get back to Orario… Get a enamel job on the front, carve something on there. I wouldn't recommend changing the wood though… If you really want to make Loki happy, you could get her face painted on. I'm sure you'd scare the shit out of anyone on the receiving end."

Admiring the feel of the rest of the shield, I noticed it felt warm under my fingertips.

Another property of the sap, perhaps?

Walking along in silence for a while longer, eventually my ears began picking up a distant 'whooshing' noise as the incline increased in sharpness. Roaring as we got closer, the sound picked up, and I could feel a coolness to the air similar to that which one would feel at the beach. Then, exiting out the side tunnel, we entered Floor 25.

The Water City awaited us.

Flowing and rushing around us was millions of liters of water, crashing down a huge, all encompassing waterfall that put Niagra Falls to shame. The title of 'Great Falls' wasn't exaggerating, and I was filled with awe having witnessed it.

Where did all this water come from?

"Around here there's dangerous monsters, who lurk in the waters. I've never seen one come flying out of the falls, but apparently it's possible." Looking left towards the speaking Lefiya, I raised an eyebrow. "'I'm not sure how they manage to break out of all that water and into the open air. It must take tremendous strength."

Lefiya herself had her uses sometimes, and this information was probably good to know.

"Monsters come out of the walls, and floors… _And_ ceilings. It's not entirely unreasonable to assume they're forming from the wall behind the waterfall, or in the water itself." That much was possible, though I like her had no idea how they broke out of the downwards force and into the open air.

She gave a humm of agreement, and I fell into step beside her. The passageway we were all currently heading through was circular, with a semi-flattened bottom. Reminding me of a tunnel a worm would create, it was open on one side to a view of the waterfall, truly making me feel small.

Like an ant, in an ant farm… I was exposed, and felt like I was being watched.

"I have no idea where this water is coming from." If you were to drain a Great Lake, it would take a while, but you could do it. Now, assuming that this has been here for ages, where was all the water coming from?

I looked back over to the elven mage, and she shrugged. "Some people say it might come from the ocean near Melen, while other people say the Dungeon makes it. Some other people say that the water might come from a giant, crying monster."

That was an unpleasant thought. The size of something large enough to be generating these huge, white rumbling waves of water would have the strength to destroy entire countries. But from what I recalled, there were already three beasts capable of doing that... Though two of them were already dead.

Zeus' and Hera's Familias had gone missing trying to kill the last one.

* * *

 **~oOo~ The Empty Thrones ~oOo~**

* * *

Out of the boggy and swamp-like Dungeon floors which were where at least some part of the water from the Great Falls drained, we entered the Deep Floors now at Floor 37. It was late at night if my internal clock was anything to go by, and this was what I deemed to be a very frightening point to stop.

Known as the White Palace, the 37th Floor was entirely coloured white, and seemed like yet another huge labyrinth within the Dungeon. On a totally different scale from the floors similar to it above, the space between hallways, rooms, and walls was huge.

And the design was strange.

The entrance was directly in the central, hexagonal chamber. The spiral staircase straight down in the center of the room came to rest between five doors, and one side which was a hallway, extending down into the distance. Five huge rooms contained monsters, the likes of which were surprisingly optional to face on this floor.

Most infamous of all the rooms on the floor was The Throne Room, which contained the Rex Udaeus, a terrifying monster of impossible design and power. There was nobody who could take it on alone, and full parties had been known to never return after being sent to kill the Udaeus, before it was labeled a 'Do Not Engage' by the Guild.

Left over then was the Knight's Room, the Soldier's Room, the Beast's Room and the Warrior's Room. Not nearly as scary as the other ones, they too contained freaks of nature which required planning and teamwork to take down…

But there was more than that. Smaller rooms known as 'Colosseums' acted as a video game's 'endless wave' mode for monsters, spawning more and more non-stop until a certain amount of monsters was reached.

If you wanted to raise your skills, _truly raise_ your skills, you'd go in alone.

A huge ninety percent never came back, but those that did came out with their stats maxed, or their levels up. Ultimately, it was rare for it to happen, but with a success rate like that, it didn't stop some people to thinking it was an easy gateway to power.

There was no easy gateway to power.

Just pushing two more floors we would've reached another safe zone on Floor 39, but there was no use to that now. Setting up around the central staircase, we posted ten times the guards we had the night before… There was now seven entrances to our camp, as opposed to the old two. While really no monster should attack unprovoked here, due to the strange nature of the White Palace, it was better safe than sorry.

If I was being entirely honest: I was terrified that I would die in my sleep down here.

"Max, you're on second watch tonight." Popping in from my left side, Finn left as I sighed. I knew he heard it, and he knew I intended for him to hear it, but that didn't make me feel any better. Why would it?

Second watch sucked. I couldn't really get to sleep in two hours, meaning I'd be spending that time awake. An unfortunate habit I'd kept from Earth, and here I didn't have the benefit of some of my preferred music to relapse into as I thought for a few hours before bed.

' _Could do some writing, but I could also leave that for tomorrow morning… The journals will hardly fill themselves, but at the same time we'll be coming up this exact same way in a week or so. Is it even worth writing it down as we head downwards?'_

Looking around, I gauged a good spot for Lefiya and my own tent. The first watch now was still looking over the stragglers as they set up the final stuff, and had it lucky: most fires were still lit and they didn't have to deal with the dark.

The dark was something that sometimes we should all be wary of.

Were I paranoid, I would've thought that Finn had done it to me on purpose, while odds were good I'd simply drawn the short straw tonight. Coming to the nice little gap in the structures I'd found, I dropped the huge bag on my shoulders and got to work erecting our sleeping space.

Finishing far quicker than I had the first few times I'd done it, the tent was up and sturdy in moments as I laid out our sleeping bags, and fluffed Lefiya's pillow. She wasn't all that bad, and if there was any one subject I would let someone enjoy, it was that of sleep.

Leaving the rest of the stuff in a darkened corner of the tent, I considered making a fire outside the entrance of it for a moment before deciding against it. Lighting a oil lamp on the inside before leaving, I grabbed my blade and my new shield.

' _Gareth said to give it a name… I would call it Aegis, but that would be stereotypical, and I'm sure people greater than I have named their shields that already. Oakenform, after the Magic the Gathering card? But this is definitely not oak… Paragon? Lame.'_

I would sort out the naming of a shield later, when I could name it after something important to me: A moment or an enemy it saved me from… Perhaps the time of day, or a situation in which it proved useful.

Sort of meandering around camp for a few more minutes, eventually I wandered near the edges. I could hear some people talking behind their cloth walls, and some moaning somewhere. I suppose it was to be expected: The life of an adventurer was stressful, and anyway to relieve that was… Understandable.

Picking up the scent of some wood burning, I turned the corner and came face to face with one of the other groups responsible for safeguarding us from the dangers of the Dungeon's Night.

"Tione, Tiona." Nodding in their direction, I considered leaving before instead sitting down on one of the stumps they'd acquired from… Somewhere. "Keeping us all safe I hope?"

"Mhmm." Poking at the fire with a stick, Tiona watched the embers crackle and send a small puff of sparks travelling upwards. "You know us! Always getting work done and whatnot. Doing the best we can."

"You really shouldn't lie to Max, Tiona: He knows us well enough by now to know that's simply not true." Tione said, before getting a general swing in her direction. Leaning back from the two of them as they bantered, I put my hands out over the flame a bit.

Warm as I remembered it, the flames lapped and danced, casting shadows into the huge stone room. Seen like this, from here, it helped me to put in perspective just how small we were. All of us here, were underneath god knows how much earth, about to go twice as deep... For what? And in the grand universe, how much smaller were we still.

Cosmic fluke, or purposeful creation?

"So what are you doing up so late?" Tione said, finally having fended off her sister she was now sitting across the fire from me. "I can hardly believe you've been sent to reinforce this watch, no offense."

Tione was hardly wrong: I was the weakest one in the group, not due to any real reason other than my sheer lack of time being an adventurer compared to everyone else. Sending me to reinforce would be like sending a rabbit to defend against wolves.

"I've got second watch, and unlike some people I can't fall asleep anywhere." I tilted my head. "A problem with me I guess, though there weren't many people where I'm from that can. Though I could be wrong."

"Tiona is the same - always tossing and turning at night." The older of the twins said, and I smiled as Tiona pouted.

"Well, Tione snores!" Still with enthusiasm in her voice, Tiona ratted out her now red-faced denial filled sister with a quieter tone than normal. Wouldn't want to wake the camp. Sweet silence enveloped us three for a few moments, and I relished in it.

Or at least, what I could enjoy without my mind picking up and focussing on the ringing I had in my ears, likely caused by that same, early age tinnitus that so much of my world enjoyed. To my huge appreciation, the gentle crackling of the flames drowned it out perfectly.

"Max?"

"Yes Tiona?"

"Can you finally tell us more about where you're from? You always say you will, but it seems like you might never… And I must admit that I want to know! Everytime you just never get to it-" Ignoring the slap to the shoulder Tiona gave her younger sister, Tiona continued on. " - and I figured now we may as well get to it. We're not everyone, but we're someone!"

Stopping Tiona from saying more with a clamped hand and a stern look, Tione looked back at me with what looked to be sadness in her eyes. Why the amazoness would feel a need to show me something like that I had no real idea.

"I'm sorry for her Max, but sometimes she just can't get it into that thick skull of hers -" Rapping on said head for emphasis she continued. "- that some memories might be painful to retell or share with others. Strange too, since we don't have the best memories ourselves."

That was something I'd need to keep for later, and that juicy nugget found its way into my mental vault. One was always so energetic, and another was so passionate about everything she did, it was hard to remember that they were people too sometimes.

I could remember that they had been orphans from an early age, and terrible memories were most certainly possible.

"A-agh! Stop licking my hand! Disgusting!" Recoiling as her sister let out a rapid laugh, Tione wiped her hand off on her skirt and looked at her sister. "You really are an animal sometimes."

Deciding to butt in before we created a super germ capable of killing the entire planet, I came in nice and calm. "Hey, it's no problem… In fact maybe it's best you guys finally said something: Had I not known you guys had felt this way, I would've probably never gotten around to sharing it."

Crossing her arms with a 'humph', and tilting her head away, Tiona looked at her older sister.

"So, what would you guys like to know? I'm afraid there's too much to cover tonight, but I can go into some stuff if you'd like me to…" My memory wasn't perfect, but History was one of the subjects I truly loved from school, and so I remembered enough of what I was taught to talk about whatever they were to ask about.

"The country's history? My family? What life is like there? There's a lot I could say, and only so much time for tonight. While options aren't limited to those, I _do_ need to know what you'd like to know about for tonight." I continued, letting them have a minute to decide. "Choose one each, should take up enough time for me to get tired."

"Your country's history? It's cana-something yeah?" Tione said, bringing in something that would be easy to talk about. I would have to only limit it to a certain point in history I suppose, but that was fine.

"Canada. Tiona?"

"How about your family?" Tiona continued, leaving me with another topic I shouldn't have much problem talking about. Though, I would have to do my best not to make them believe they were missing out on too much: Tione and Tiona had no parents of their own as far as I recalled.

"Alright, we'll start with my family." Rubbing my hands together, I thought about where to begin. "As a whole, we are nothing special. Not a dynasty, and I'm definitely not royal… Ancestors of farmers, in fact, until the most recent few… Which isn't quite a bad thing, since royal families are prone to slaughter. They come from a country different than my own, which generally got conquered real bad a few times, so they left."

"Once they left, they arrived in my country, Canada, and lived there, nothing overly special. My mother is from another country. She's a good person, and tries her best, but at times she's a bit… How should I say it -" I gave myself pause for a moment. I loved my mother, I did, and I didn't want to offend her in any way, because she truly tried, but at times " - she's difficult, sometimes."

"Do you think she misses you?" Tione said, from across the flames. I must admit, that stopped me for a second: During my time here I remembered my family, and I remembered that I cared about them… But like so many other people, I never took a moment to think about my impact on everyone's life, and what would happen if I were to suddenly removed.

But that was a good question for another reason: If I was here, somehow brought by forces I couldn't understand, or by a cosmic fluke in which there was no understanding to be done, then was time still moving in their reality? Did it cease to exist with me? If I was in a simulation, and changed realms, would the previous one cease to exist?

"Y-you know I'm not quite sure about that…" I said, waving my hands to prevent an understanding quickly after the words left my mouth. "It's not that she _wouldn't_ miss me, it's that… I'm not sure if my… _absence_ is noted by everyone there."

A void met me with that, containing only the crackling of the flames. There was no way to explain it without spilling everything.

Spilling everything… I just wasn't comfortable with doing that. Not yet. Not now. Not to them.

"There's my dad, great guy, he tried really hard to get where he is, and I think he's found what he's good at and is his passion in life. Lots of problems though, medical and otherwise, and he's got more stories than you'd believe." I smiled looking back on it. "Truly, if he were to tell you some things he's done, you wouldn't believe it, but I can assure you he wouldn't ever lie to you."

I must admit I was proud of my father. Against all odds, he became who is is today, and with parents like his own it's amazing that he became who he is. The fact that I was similar to him in ways brought me a sense of personal pride too, but at the same time, we were different.

While he'd struggled to be comfortable in life, and truly _live_ , he had found it. I was like him, but with better health, and with more of a fire in me. He was patient, unbelievably so, while I must admit I was also a patient guy sometimes that patience runs out. The sand at the bottom of the hourglass is finished.

Often I can get frustrated, and annoyed, and release it in sass, or dark humor. But my anger... It's rare, but it's loud, scary, and has people fearing for my health of mind when it comes out.

My biggest personal demon was my wrath, I suppose.

"Then there's my younger sister who, like my mother, is difficult at times. She tries hard, harder even to be a good person, and I can't bring myself to blame her for any of it." I said, looking at the two of them. "I'm not as close with her as you two might be with each other, but I hope when I'm gone she finds happiness."

Each of us sat there then, waiting for a bit longer, as I recollected my thoughts. My eyes were slightly moist, but I repressed it. I took those emotions, put them in a box, and toyed with the box before putting it on a mental shelf.

Unhealthy as it was to do that, I couldn't afford to break down. Not now.

At the same time, I've been doing that for years haven't I? Like too many people, men specifically I took my emotions, and repressed them for some shitty engrained instinct to not appear emotional in my society… What was worse is we knew it was bad for us, and did it anyways.

"So that's my family." Giving a deep breath, I continued, thinking where to start with the history of my country… I could do world history instead, but best not.

"Canada, where I'm from, started when another country came over in their ships, and landed… Though I guess, it started after they won their independence, the beginning of the colonies which would later make my country started when they landed… Yet even then, I guess I'm wrong, since there were a First People's there first, but their structure wasn't the same." God, leaving out a large portion of the history would be tough.

"Why'd they land there?" Tione asked, and I looked over to her.

"They had found some stuff further south of that general area, and here there was furs, which were super valuable, and lots, and I mean _lots and lots_ of land for a quickly filling Europe. By coming to this place, they had all sorts of new freedoms, resources, and challenges from where they originally came from."

"Pretty much, after a couple rebellions, and a whole lot of bloody warshed against the French, not quite in that order, my country started and went around being the granary of the empire, and the arsenal for democracy." Canada was neat that way, they just supplied Europe with shit for ages. "From there we kinda just trudged along, and eventually became independent, and we still are."

"Huh…"

"Not quite what you were expecting?"

Tione looked at me somewhat disappointed, which wasn't something I was quite expecting given the subject matter. There really wasn't a whole lot to be excited about when it came to Canadian history.

"Honestly… Not quite, no."

"Well, we declared war because of a pig once." They both laughed at that, and I raised my eyebrows. "I'm being serious about that, by the way. My country is a little great, and a little boring, but that's what makes it fantastic."

I yawned. Thinking about home had made me bring up a story of sorts, which was essentially just me going not to deep into their history and giving the game away, essentially. I would need to record what I said here, to avoid contradicting myself in the future.

"Well, ladies, I'll see you both tomorrow."

* * *

 **~oOo~ The Empty Thrones ~oOo~**

* * *

Sometimes it felt as though I saw Riveria as too nice a person.

Unfortunately, this is not quite true to all parties. Ais, for instance, considered Riveria a mentor from a very young age, and considered her to be almost motherly at the same time. While this was fine, Riveria too was ruthless. After a simple name calling of 'old woman' from Ais to Riveria, Ais was punished by having adamantine weights tied to her limbs, before Riveria dropped her into a pool.

Riveria had dubbed it a 'swimming lesson'.

While being both a person who helped others, and brutally punished some for petty reasons, Riveria was a large part of my life, and important in the lives of all in the Loki Familia. Of course, that raised me to both rely on her, and have my doubts to her methods.

And for some reason, it was only now I was wondering as to why she had so easily accepted my request to have her help me be changed to an Adventurer position. Sure, my argument at the time had made sense, but had it made enough sense for her to simply _agree_ , without any ulterior motive?

I pursed my lips, watching the girls as they talked after our brief, rather brutal encounter with a group of minotaur-like monsters on Floor 50. While no monsters spawned here, making it a good place to call camp for the next day, monsters still leaked in and out of the entrances to the floor.

Nowhere was safe.

' _Everyone here is nuts.'_

Ais, Bell, everyone. Maybe I'd been struck with the glamor of it all when I arrived, but this place was hardly normal. Since last night, I'd missed home more and more, and my reasons for being here sprang up in my head.

Except for the fact that they didn't… No reasons popped up, because my being here seemed inconsequential. Something that would have an effect, but no lasting impact. For all I knew, I was a placeholder, an NPC in this world compared to everyone else.

Ais was obsessed with becoming stronger. Going around, breaking records left and right, the Level 5 Sword Princess Ais Wallenstein had her own reasons to become as strong as she was, yet nobody quite knew them. Still, she threw herself into situations recklessly, and people let her because _she was_ _Ais_.

Who cared if she throws herself into impossible situations, in some insane dream to becoming more powerful. It seems like Finn and Riveria sure didn't. Loki might, but did she really know of how intense Ais was in the Dungeon? That look she got on her face when we were faced with difficulty?

While my greatest sin may be my wrath, Ais' own downfall would be her lust for power…

Bell was no better. All his growth was linked to wanting to be with a girl, and was partially tied to him being the… _Something_ of Zeus at least. Just because he was lucky at birth, and quite literally blessed by the gods, and whatever insane force controlled skill distribution, he would grow faster than anyone.

It all almost seemed unfair, at times.

Yet perhaps, they were the exception. Tione and Tiona simply were here, because it was their job. Same thing with Bete, Lefiya, Gareth, and Raul. All of us were normal, we had no real huge dreams or aspirations, or anything that made us obsessive or overpowered beyond belief.

' _Huh. Maybe not everyone.'_

Watching as Lefiya quite literally bowed to Ais, thanking the Sword Princess for saving her from the minotaurs, I shook my head. Not in disappointment, or anything like that, but because it was a bow. Lefiya at times revered Ais a bit too strongly.

Though, that could go for most of Ais' Dungeon City fanbase. (And what was with their strange obsession with her thighs?)

In particular, this incident made me a bit worried. The moment in which Lefiya was being charged by that minotaur-ripoff was almost manufactured, left by Riveria no doubt to see if she would crack under pressure.

She did, by the way. Fear of the beast caused her to stop her incantation, which would've turned it into nothing but gore.

The more I looked at it, the more it seemed manufactured. Normally my secondary purpose to acting as a Supporter during Dungeon visits, was that during battles I would defend the mage. Yet this time, I was positioned elsewhere, to guard another, different mage during the battle.

Loki's Familia it seems, was filled with trickery. I'm sure you see the connection.

But what would that mean to me? Would I develop the same habits? The almost… _Disregard_ for other people's lives, while at the same time hoping those people get better because of my secret interventions?

Hopefully not.

"Ais! It's not nice, you know! Making your cute juniors cry like that!" Tiona said, hugging Ais from behind with a worried look towards Lefiya. Ais looked confused, and blinked a few times before answering.

"T-that wasn't my intention."

"Well look, she's crying."

"M-Miss A-Ais.. Sh-She was… Petting my head!..." Positively quivering at the strange display of affection given to her by the beloved Ais, Lefiya's lips did something weird and her hands did a strange little motion in front of her.

"She's sick." Came the snide comment from Tione on the side.

"Lefiya, you _really_ admire Ais, don't you?"

"Yes!" Smiling now, Lefiya didn't even bother hiding it. I would make no comments out loud, but truly their relationship was a bit of a weird one. At least, from my point of view from a dozen meters away. "Miss Ais is strong, and kind, and beautiful! She's perfect!"

' _Agreed, but please… Give it a break.'_

"Hmm, you've got a fan." Pulling the helpless Ais' cheek, Tiona smiled and somehow got away with it.

But when _I_ try to pinch a girls' cheeks from a hugging position behind them, _I_ get called a pervert and bitch slapped into next week.

"I'm a disgrace." Lefiya said. It was something nobody was expecting, especially not me. Maybe it was Canada in the twenty first century, but when not setting up for a joke us lads normally didn't just blurt stuff like that out. "Why take someone like me on an expedition even when I'm so far below you all?"

The cheek pulling stopped.

Beginning with a single step forwards, I made a slow walk towards their group.

An deep, deadly and ominous aura leaked out into the area, and it felt like I was choking on it. Looking to Lefiya's side, I saw the cause of it. Tione, an fire in her eyes and possibly(?) joking malice in her tone, put her arms on her hips.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Her eye twitched once. "Our leader was the one who chose you for this expedition… You saying he was wrong?

Mentally I took Tione off my list of normal people once more. Her deep desire to be with a man twenty five years her senior and three quarters her height wasn't entirely wrong, but it turned her into a beast when his authority was questioned.

She was an amazing amazoness woman who could have anyone they wanted, and yet wanted specifically to be with the Prum captain determined to make his race respected again, partially by marrying yet a Prum on par with himself…

What a weird world we live in.

"N-no! That's not what I meant at all!" Lefiya sputtered, having seemingly teleported behind Ais and Tiona in an instant. Where was that kind of speed in battle, when it mattered?!

"Besides, it's factually incorrect. Technically _I'm_ the furthest one below you all." I said, stepping in from my walk. Spinning around at a cough behind me, I heard Tione gasp and registered who it was before my eyes could go downwards from the height of the average human's face.

"Is there something I should know about, Tione?" Finn said, flanked by a sleepy looking Riveria and stoic Gareth. Holding a strange apple-sized pumpkin in his hand, Finn raised his eyebrow at me.

"Nothing but a bit of self deprecating humor mixed in with a bit of the truth." I said, responding quickly before Tione could get all weird and weak in the knees. God, some people. Or at least, I was fairly sure she wasn't doing anything strange behind my back.

"B-boss… No, it's nothing at all." Alright, so, my intuition was wrong. She was already fawning.

"Yes! There's a lot of things!" Tiona said, totally ready to sell out her sister in a heartbeat. "Tione was bullying Lefiya, and then she threatened her and scared her and-"

I laughed deeply, getting a strange look from Gareth. Shaking my head, I looked at them, taking a few steps back so as to not speak for the group. The responsibility of speaking for four women I didn't understand would be crushing.

"I'm so sorry! The things she comes up with sometimes!" Close to choking out her sister in her bosom, Tione was likely taking this all far too seriously. "I do wish she would just stick to boob jokes."

The following encounter consisted of a good back and forth between Tione and Tiona about breast size, much to the discomfort of the Familia Captains, and myself. The amazoness sisters truly were unrelentless in this subject, but I must admit Tione would win given the current subject matter.

You know, since Tiona is flat and everything.

"Enough bickering you too." Finally intervening, Gareth put a halt to it.

"Sibling rivalry aside, the real dangers of this expedition will be upon us soon… I'm counting on you, Tione." Acting as though he didn't understand her devotion to him, Finn played with her like that. "Oh, and Ais, do you have a moment?"

Ais nodded, before Riveria spoke. "And Lefiya, come with me, we need to talk."

Everyone split at that, Finn with Ais and Gareth, while Riveria and Lefiya left. I left the twins behind as Tione stood there, feeling proud of herself I'm sure. I must admit, I felt a bit left out, but I didn't have to be included all the time.

Heck, it would probably be better if I was included as little as possible.

Wandering around for a few minutes, I got a lighter pack from my tent that was filled with a few, smaller things I could use for training and maintenance. Maybe I'd go sit in the woods outside camp, or ask someone to spar, or just start hacking a tree around here.

We had made camp right across from the exit to Floor 51, on a raised escarpment surrounded in forest, and what appeared to be some exotic shrubbery. Just below us was a few streams as well, that all fed into a irrigation system for the lower floors. (Or at least that was my theory.)

Hiking up across the camp, and weaving through the _huge_ spiked rocks protruding from the ground towards the crystal ceiling, I eventually came to the exit of Floor 50, which would move down to Floor 51. I'd spotted Raul Nord and Riine Arshe there, and perhaps Riine would be open to some training.

As far as I could recall, as a Level 2 mage Riine was the second weakest here, other than myself.

"... You know, if this safety point didn't exist, expeditions to the deeper floors wouldn't even be possible." Cruz spoke up. I hadn't seen the brown haired chienthrope in the shadows, but he was there too.

Turning to look down the path at the camp, Raul coincidentally spotted me coming and I waved. Joining them, I was about to call out a greeting before the four of us all had our attention drawn towards a strange sound from the exit to Floor 51.

' _That's… W-what is that?'_

Eyes widening as I saw several deep black, red eyed huge Dungeon Rhinos heading towards us, I pushed Riine out of the way and dove. Rolling painfully onto my back, I crushed my backpack and continued rolling until I was out of the way. Dust kicked up from their frantic running, and I coughed, lungs filling with irritants as I helped to pick up Riine from where she'd fallen.

Two screams rose from the dust, one female that I couldn't recognize, and one very clearly belonging to Cruz. I hustled over, gliding across the dusty ground, and attempted to spot Raul before dropping to one knee next to Cruz. What I ended up seeing was one _very_ broken arm.

' _Blood! Oh god that's so much blood! Is that bone!? OH SWEET JESUS!'_

"Doesn't look good does it?" Cruz said, hacking up a cough as I helped wrestle him up from gravity.

"Well this looks worse!" With a rasp of steel, Raul backpedaled away from the opening, and as I turned to look I could see the huge, green forms of a monster type I'd never even heard of before. Deceptively quick despite their huge size, the massive green caterpillar like monsters burst forth, a writhing green wave of buggy, disgusting insectoid forms.

Something purple spewed forth from an almost blow-hole like spot in their forehead, and instantly began eating away at the ceiling, which was entirely made of stone and crystals. Dripping down, it began eating and smoking away the floor, like an acid.

The monsters didn't care, charging right through it.

We were not being attacked by the Dungeon Rhinos... They were running away.

If this was able to make even them -which should be their allies- fearful it most certainly made me so. Before I could make a callout about the acid to Raul, he had already jumped in and I was pushing Cruz towards Riine. He was too injured to help, and her staff had flown… _Somewhere_ when I'd pushed her.

It would be good grouping the two useless together so they could help each other.

Selfishly and cowardly abandoning Raul to his fate, I turned like the coward I was. Totally out of my depth, there was no point in even taking out my shield, as it would just be eaten through by the acid. About to sprint for the camp, where I could already here the commotion and screams as more acid rain spewed forth from the insects, I heard one scream in particular near me.

The unidentified girl.

' _Shit.'_

Heart beating out of my chest I felt my entire face tighten as I ran back towards Raul and the direction of that specific scream. Pushing through the dust, I blinked constantly before eventually kneeling near a small humanoid shape. A small splatter landed on my shoulder, burning and hissing away, but I winced through the pain.

I would have to trust in my Falna.

"Fucking come on! Get up!" Grabbing a shoulder I pulled her to her feet and began tugging her towards the camp, but it was already too late. Having circled around Raul's weak defense as he maimed his arm on some acid, the caterpillar was a massive green wall between Raul, the girl, and I and the camp.

Raul's back bumped into mine and I nearly jumped out of my skin. The only thing keeping me up at this point was adrenaline. Adrenaline against the fear, and a strange, soothing presence reaching forth from my Falna.

It wasn't doing jack shit, but that fact that my Falna was _trying_ , _desperately_ , to keep me alive was good enough for my mind that I was able to formulate something. _Anything_ to keep me alive. Us three in the best case scenario. The girl and I in the minimum.

"Raul-" My voice came out part sob near the end. I needed to regain control. "Off the cliffs!"

I had to fucking reach out and grab control by the horns.

"It's been nice knowing you, man!"

Circling around, one of the massive, huge caterpillars eyed the girl latched to one of my arms and then us. Then more joined it, and soon we were faced with a thick, circling mass of people. The only way out was up, or down.

Down was a rock, and up was impossible.

' _Think! Think! FUCK!'_

They say diamonds are made under pressure, and I felt that was true sometimes. Just as I had an deep, subconscious acceptance that I was about to die, I saw the entire caterpillar tense. I saw a white, wispy smoke come out the top.

My arm throbbed. The wound felt that which wounded it. Acid was about to rain.

' _They're slowing. Can't multitask. Look for an opening. GO!'_

Pushing all of my strength into a push of myself against the ground, I used every ounce of what I had to launch myself and the girl forwards, towards an opening within the circling giants. It didn't matter what direction, just that there was an opening. My feet hit the ground once, twice, before I had sprinted out, violently tugging the new girl behind with me.

Briefly, I was filled with hope before we went tumbling down the cliff, together.

Pulling her towards myself, I let the instinct take hold as we crashed against it once, twice, and bounced, both times luckily -or perhaps unluckily- with me against the ground. I felt my shoulder do something it should not have, and the two of us skid to the bottom. My clothes, torn and shredded, hers no better…

' _Remember how to breath! Oh God! HOW DO I BREATHE!?'_

Once more filled with that same, insane panic, I failed to notice the ground... My ribs ached from the impacts. My breath came in gasps, heaves that required monumental effort. My vision blurred, and blackened out for a moment. Bodies aren't meant to take a fall like that, yet we weren't dead.

I regained a bit more of my senses. Below us, was an awfully giving surface. Rather than firm like soil, or rock, it had a spring to it. Almost as though it was woven together, a carpet of vines and brush.

Gasping air in, I looked towards the cliffs where Raul had fallen into another outcropping. The writhing green mass now, mindlessly charged after us. Two of them impaled themselves on the huge rock spikes I'd failed to notice before, while others came down rolling, or sliding, all the same spewing out the same killer purple acid. It poured, causing steam to burn off the rocks.

Landing among us, one of them eyed the girl I'd protectively moved in front of.

I was filled with something, some courage I didn't know I had. My knees trembled, and tears very quickly ran down my face as my hands ripped out my shield and blade. My shoulder lanced with pain. It was dislocated at best, totally shattered at worst. I wouldn't be able to do anything.

Useless. I shouldn't be here, dying on another world.

The caterpillar lunged forwards, insectoid mouth open, teeth all around, ready to devour me.

It was here for me: The freak of the world that shouldn't exist here in the first place. I knew that. I could _feel_ it. It's vendetta against me. The pure unstoppable hatred in its eyes as it flew to engage in the killing blow of the abomination of this universe.

 **Me.**

Then, the ground gave way, and we tumbled into Floor 51, together.

* * *

 **~oOo~ The Empty Thrones ~oOo~**

* * *

 **Note:** I'm going to make a Discord server for fans of this, or my other stories, who would like to talk about ideas, or have some questions, or would just like to prod me a bit to write faster. (Or ask what's going on? And: why are you not writing!?)

 **Review Responses:**

 **Xenophos24:** Can't train yourself now can ya? Yes, LN Lefiya is very different from SO Anime Lefiya.

 **ZHsteven:** Thanks man! More to come.

 **skidney:** Thanks!

 **PasiveNox:** I _do_ try to make sense.

 **YourHomeGirlJen:** Me neither! S2 will be good. One more chapter and I'll be ready for it in here. Mother Mother is great, listen to them all the time. Though, I'm more interested in their newest albums.

 **fall equinox 1:** Haha, yeah I guess, and I most certainly will!

 **dereturd:** Of course. Udaeus is a bit too tough, eh? I hope it gets subbed.

 **Touhoufanatic:** At the same time, it would be a bit immersion breaking. I agree that it could've been interesting without the time skips, but… While this _isn't_ all been a Prologue up until this point, it hasn't _really_ begun yet.

 **StraxyX:** We'll see.

 **HALO343:** I'll try being quicker! And SI with the Sharingan would be ridiculous! Too OP.

 **jumback:** If getting the shit beaten out of you and being only punily powerful is a 'powerup', how sad is your life bro?

 **HalfAScribe:** Thanks very much! Yeah, I've changed my views since beginning writing this… Kind of too late now to go back and alter things, but that's fine. I only hope I can be better about things in the future.

Have a wonderful evening, folks. Tomorrow is One King To Rule Them All.

 **-DragonManMax**


End file.
